A Mother's Sword: Devil's Analogy
by Durriken
Summary: Summary: What would happen if Uzumaki Kushina had not died? What if she'd secretly watched in shadows as her child was bullied? What if she finally snapped? What if...she killed them all?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Prelude to Death

**XXX**

Like an eagle she sat perched upon the rooftop, dressed in concealing black attire and shrouded in the haunting darkness that night usually brought. Her eyes, nothing but glistening blue sparks behind a mask, were locked onto a blonde-haired child, watching silently as four other larger children surrounded him. The sparks narrowed into slits as they began striking the smaller boy, their tightly wounds fists crashing into his face over and over again despite his desperate pleas at them to stop.

She watched this go on, keeping a mental timer in her head and was just coming around to the six-minute mark when an adult, the orphanage owner, came running out. It was a woman, a woman who, instead of chastising and possibly striking the other children, only grabbed the small blonde boy by the neck of his shirt and dragged him roughly back inside the building.

The woman on the rooftop closed her eyes and in doing so became one with the gloom and faded away….

**XXX**

**Three Years Later**

The boy was now nine. He'd gotten taller. His favorite food was ramen, any kind. He enjoyed pulling moderately adorable pranks, some of them rather sophisticated for one so young, and although he was harshly punished each time he was caught it didn't stop him from plotting his next one.

A woman, laying flat on the Hokage's monument on the head of the current third, Hiruzen, looked through an eyeglass; it increased her vision to over half the village away where she saw that familiar blonde from years ago running throughout the streets, closely followed by no less than six civilians. It was broad daylight yet she noticed not a single person bothered to stop this and ask what the cause of it was.

She herself knew the reason. Just an hour ago, the blonde had stolen a thirty yen fish, trying desperately to get some food into his malnourished form as the orphanage only seemed to feed him on odd numbered days. His technique for theft was sloppy and while only the seller should have been involved he, for reasons unknown to the woman, felt the need to enlist the help of several other venders, all of whom were now bearing down on the child as his little legs quickly grew tired.

She increased the scope of her telescope, watching emotionlessly as the blonde ran down an alleyway only to look up in horror when he realized it was a dead-end. The moment he turned around a thick fist caught him upside the jaw and he was thrown back into the wooden fence that barred his path. From there, the woman witnessed something she never thought six grown men would do. While two held the boy down, arms and legs stretched out, the other four took turns berating him with a storm of punches and kicks.

Even from her distance she could hear the boys screams piercing the air and, only for a moment, zoomed out to see if any other civilians or ninjas would heed the noise and come to the boys rescue. No. None of them did. In fact, the ones closest the alleyway went through great lengths to avoid it, walking wide angles around the opening.

The blonde suddenly let out a gargled howl and, cursing herself mentally for looking away, she zoomed back in to see the fish vender driving what looked like a ridged knife into the boys hand, sticking him to the wooden fence like a piece of stuck game. The man snarled something at the boy but she doubted highly he was heard because the boy kept screaming in agony, grabbing the wrist of his stuck hand, his fingers fumbling over the rush of scarlet liquid. More than being frightened of this intense pain, he was scared at sight of so much blood.

After watching him squirm for a few minutes, she expected the men to release him but was slightly astounded by their cruelty when they turned and began walking away, leaving a little child impaled to the fence. The woman stayed where she was, watching silently as the blonde gripped the blade of the knife and tried to jiggle it free, only to receive a pain so sharp that he vomited, adding further to the secretions already spreading around him.

He was still crying even many hours into the night. The impaled hand was all but shriveled with bloodloss and from the wrist down the flesh was turning a ghostly pale. Seconds from acting, the woman paused when a man covered in black fell from seemingly thin air, landing in front of the boy who looked up with bloodshot eyes, tracks of tears frozen to his face from the harsh night air. He reached out with his free hand, gasping, struggling to speak but fell short, the spark vanishing from his cerulean eyes as consciousness left him and he slumped, only held up by his stuck hand.

The figure surveyed the child for a few moments before bending down and grasping the knife's handle. At once, Naruto's eyes sprang open at this fresh chasm of pain but the man was quick and aimed a blindingly fast chop at the blonde's neck, knocking him back into a deeper slumber. In the same instant, he wrenched the knife free allowing a deluge of blood to surge forth between the severed flaps of skin in the boys palm. It was sickening but the man snatched the black bandana from his head allowing a crop of silver hair to shoot up; he swiftly, expertly, wrapped the child's hand up, scooped the shivering bundle into his arms, and leapt high into the sky. The woman kept track of him, wary, until she saw him heading towards the Konoha hospital.

She lowered the telescope, closed her eyes, and, like last time, faded into the night as though she never existed.

**XXX**

**Four Years Later**

The boy, Naruto, was just turning thirteen today. His lengthy hair had been gathered back into a small horsetail. The hereditary whiskers over his cheeks had become more distinct. He still liked ramen and, oddly enough, had developed a crush on a certain pink haired kunoichi from the ninja academy despite the fact that she treated him like a three-legged dog. He considered it an early birthday present when, just a few days prior, he'd been selected to be on her team along with that jerk Sasuke Uchiha. His sensei had seemed cool enough and, strangely, it felt to Naruto as if they'd met sometime in the past even though Kakashi denied such claims.

Three buildings away was where she had station herself, poised between two water cylinders on the roof. She didn't need a telescope to see him clearly. He was like a beacon to her, shining brightly, drawing her eyes no matter how far she happened to be. Her heart swelled with pride at the sight of him. He was taller now, almost reaching her height, and, despite still being denied food on a regular basis, had came into a svelte build. Growing as he had was a necessary evil, this she had come to realize very early. Such hardships were needed in order to form a sound body and mind, one that would take a lot to cave or break into. Humans were bred for survival and if you put one into a hostile environment, they either adapted or were crushed into nothing. Naruto was still standing, still breathing, and, better yet, had attained a very positive outlook on life, wanting nothing more than to rise above the shackles placed on him and stand above all as Hokage.

Although she had vowed never to interfere until today, the woman had taken it upon herself to devise training regimens and schedules for the boy that she left in sealed letters around his apartment that would only open upon touching his own personal chakra. The lessons he found helped him to grow physically, gave him advise and tips on what areas he needed the most work in as the teachers at the academy barely glanced his way let alone offered any help. To her joy, this helped Naruto excel at a quicker rate than his classmates, a feat that baffled many, but none said a word because that would mean acknowledging that he was somehow better than them, able to stand up as their equal. None of it mattered to Naruto who was overjoyed at his progress. It made him happy to know that he _did_ have what it took to stand besides his fellows.

That last bit of sentimentality meant absolutely nothing to the woman. She knew in her heart there could be no redemption for the people of this village. And if a smidgen could be found, it didn't matter to her. Ninja worked best as a collective so as a collective they would be punished. Yes, from ninja to civilian, from civilian to wife and husband, and from them down to their offspring, none would be exonerated. She'd waited long enough, _far_ too long, but she was not entirely without a heart. She'd specifically chosen this day to decide if vengeance would indeed flow through the streets of Konoha like a plague.

Having watched the blonde grow up from a boy into a handsome young man, she knew that every year on his birthday, like clockwork, the villagers would band together and hunt Naruto down. The implements they used in their endeavor varied annually but already, after just one casual glance down into the streets below, she could see the mob surging forward, picking up more and more followers for every house and dwelling it passed on their way to Naruto's house.

Her eyes lifted, one eyebrow quirked behind her mask. This was odd. Naruto was by no means stupid—despite what teachers and others students constantly yelled at him—yet he still resided within his apartment, kneeled down before the only table in the scarce room. On top of it sat a cake that he himself had made and it was brightly lit with thirteen glimmering candles. It went without saying that he couldn't eat it as the ingredients included things that no edible cake comprised of. Ketchup, rotten eggs, wheat flour, hot sauce, brown cinnamon—all of it haphazardly thrown into a bowl and then baked into the molting one-tier pie that he stared at with such joy and pride. The woman almost smiled at his brave attempts at baking. No one else would have even thought twice to do him such a kindness but this year, being a special year, he had wanted a cake to celebrate properly, even if he'd never take a bite of it.

But she had to wonder why he had not fled. He had to know what was coming for him; he had to be able to hear the drunken cries of "_Demon_!" ripping through the still night air. She stared harder, perhaps missing something. And that's when she saw it. Tears...a deluge of clear liquid leaking heavily from both eyes, dripping off his chin. The woman was perplexed, her heart, once kept in check, beginning to race. Crying? Why was he crying?

When realization crashed into her, the woman slowly crouched down. She knew why Naruto had not run. He was through running. He was...tired. Tired of running all of his life. Had he…given up? Was he going to let the villagers kill him? What about his dreams to become the Hokage and rule over them? Too many questions flooded her mind and she subsequently ceased all thought.

This day was special for Naruto because he was turning thirteen, becoming a teenager. This day was special for the woman because it would be the determining factor of whether she forgave the villagers for their vile acts or took matters into her own hands. Had they matured, come to their god given senses, she would have spared them and this night would have ended on a happy note. Not terribly happy as this was indeed the anniversary that the legendary Nine-Tailed Fox tore through the village, but that was not Naruto's fault. To blame an innocent child for something he had no part in was downright foolish, a cop-out that the weak used as an excuse to mentally and physically abuse him. They saw him as way to relieve stress after a long day rather than treat him as the hero he truly was. It made the bile in her stomach churn to know that everyone within this corroding village hated Naruto because he had virtually saved their lives. He was the one who had to deal with a vicious demon clawing at his very soul, threatening to consume him at a moments mental weakness. Not them! Without his sacrifice as the Nine-Tail's carrier, they'd all be dead and this village would be nothing but a scene of death and destruction, a smoldering crater upon the world.

Actually...that's just what she was about to turn it into. Her mind was made up. This would stop tonight. She would purge this village of all the corroded souls that inhabited it. Just as her student Itachi Uchiha had done to his clan...she was about to do the same to the entire village.

"Hear me now, residents of Konoha. My name...is _Uzumaki Kushina_." At the mention of her name, the mob below came to a startling halt, each and every one of them feeling an icy cold finger drag its way down their spine. Heads began turning, eyes swiveling as they tried to figure out where in the world this sensation was coming from.

"On my word as a Konoha shinobi...none of you will ever lay hands on my child again."

**XXX**

A/N: I'm going to enjoy writing this. Who will live? Who will die? Guess we'll see.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Warning, Warning, Warning: **severe gore ahead**. I know a lot of people are wondering 'wtf Kushina, y u no protect little Naruto'? Well, we're getting to that. Also, I ask that none take this too seriously, it's only going to be about three more chapters anyway. This is purely one of those 'what if' stories. Feel free to flame me though and call it 'shit' or 'contrived' or 'preconceived', I know you're going to anyway, especially after this chapter lol. Enjoy.

Chapter 2: Chained to Hell

**XXX**

"Have you any last words?"

Like a snake had been dropped from the sky, the mob broke apart, everybody stumbling in different directions in their haste to get away from the red-haired woman who had suddenly appeared within their midst. That was only half the reason they ran and scrambled; the other half was attributed towards the katana she wielded in her right hand. It was a dull red with black inscriptions running the length of the blade and it ended in a slight point, the tip glistening under the flames their torches provided.

Kushina had left her disguise on top of the roof. That was a necessity. She didn't want to be a mere shadow cutting them down. She wanted them see her, to feel her, to perceive without a shred of doubt who was about to fuck them up. Giving no thought to consequence, she knew that by allowing herself to be seen in such a fashion she had incurred the Hokage's wrath—as something told her he was watching her every move through his special crystal ball—but she had decided a decade ago how this was going to play out. There was no stopping it now.

Her red hair, lengthened over time, flowed behind her like a waterfall. Her radiant skin was untouched and ivory despite years of fighting, sneaking, assassinating. But her eyes, it was those pools of piercing dread that struck an untold amount of fear within the mob around her.

"W-who are you?" asked one of the more spindly men, this one wielding a pitchfork in knobby hands.

Just the sight of it set fire within Kushina's stomach though her face remained emotionless. It would do no good to lose herself before it even started, before the other members of her group were able to join in on the fun.

"As far as last words go, that would be considered a terrible waste. I have already said my name." She lifted her blade, holding it vertically, the tip pointed down. "_Oh damned souls, repent for your crimes as the chains of hell drag you into a fiery oblivion_."

She dropped her weapon. It spread the ground at her feet. The mob continued to stare bewildered at Kushina, half wondering of the purpose behind this woman's strange claim. After a few seconds, Kushina looked up towards the sky. She had tried. Yes, she had tried just then to find even one remaining scrape of affection that still resided within her for this village. She found none, and now felt slightly foolish. She claimed she'd made up her mind yet was still looking for reasons to forgive them….

"Let's...make the sky rain demon's blood," she suggested lowly. Unsurprisingly, she earned herself cheers of glory from the mob all around, each of them under the impression that she was referring to Naruto. Now she had no doubt; they'd taken it from her. "And so you all spit in the face of mercy," she whispered icily, her voice unable to carry above the rapturous yells. "The only demons I see..._are all of you_."

A drop of blood escaped her right eye. It rolled down her cheek and clung to her chin for only a second before dripping to the ground. "_Release_."

The screams of joy from the mob morphed into screams of pure agony when hundreds upon thousands of silver chains erupted from the ground, impaling them with grisly snapping and crunching noises. Lifting her head only slightly, Kushina watched with listless eyes as several of the villagers were hoisted high into the night air, their bodies savagely punctured and, much like a water balloon, began spewing scarlet liquid that splashed to the ground. It was almost like watching some grotesque puppet show. She closed her eyes to the sounds of their harmonious wailing and shrieking, the sounds of bones being crushed to dust as her chains wrapped around their flailing bodies, applying an ungodly amount of pressure; she could hear them retching as their crushed guts found escape through their mouths.

Regressing into a mindset that allowed her to enjoy this, Kushina lifted both arms like she was about to conduct a choir and began skipping around in the copious puddles of blood that were forming all up and down the lane.

The screaming from up above was soon replaced by a strangled gurgling. Pretty soon, as Kushina kept her gaze lowered, she began to see clumps of peeled flesh splattering to the ground, following by the tinkling noise of bone fragments. She didn't look up, not because she feared what kind of sight would meet her eyes, but because she received more joy in watching the aftermath of her chains work as they tore the villagers apart and showered her with fleshly trophies of severed fingers and yanked out tongues. She pushed more anger into her chains, felt them grabbing the villagers by the arms and legs before roughly yanking them into bloody chunks—the parts that crashed to the ground caused a little smirk to break out over her face.

Soon, the ground resembled the aftermath of a small child spilling spaghetti on the floor. The screaming had stopped. It was eerily quiet save for the rattling of her chains as they slithered back into the ground, their job done. All but one remained and it lowered the battered body of that spindly man down to her like an offering, holding him upside down by a twisted ankle.

"You asked who I am, did you not?" The man went to speak when Kushina gripped him by the throat, applying only the smallest of pressure before whatever resided there was crushed to a bloody pulp that came spilling out of the mans mouth. "No one told you to talk back," she said, ignoring his slovenly face as tears began escaping.

She wrenched her sword from the ground and held it up for the man to see. He was the last survivor of the mob and yet, she still had so much pent up rage. It wasn't like her to stoop to dismemberment, no matter how badly the target annoyed her, but when the subject matter concerned her child, well….

"I think I can make a little exception," and she dug her blade into the mans stomach, bisecting the supple flesh there easily. She sidestepped the stream of blood that spurted forth and, ignoring the mans fresh screams of pain, plunged a hand into his insides. Curious, she felt around, her fingers rolling over folds of sinewy muscle and crushed bone until she hit something extra gooey and springy. "Ah-ha, there you are." The moment she grabbed it the man burped and vomited, forcing a stream of chunky reddish-brown liquid up through his shattered throat. This didn't deter Kushina; she only 'tsk, tsked' before pulling out a long, blood-saturated cord that spilled stomach acid out one end.

"Don't die yet," she soothed in a maternal voice, moving behind the man. He was gargling blood, convulsing as he hung upside down. The smell was nauseating but Kushina inhaled, letting it fill her. There would be plenty more of it before the night's end. She took the tube of intestine in both hands and expertly wound it around the man's neck, pulling tightly. The strain caused blood vessels to pop in his eyes but he couldn't scream through the gore piling past his mouth. She put her lips next to his ear. "_My name is Uzumaki Kushina__. Spread it in hell._"

And she reached around his front, yanking on the other half of his intestine that trailed out of him. What little life resided within the man faded like a morning star when his insides poured out, sploshing to the ground in a heap of blood and other juices. Comically, the mans corpse looked ridiculously hollow and Kushina allowed herself a small laugh as her chains flung the empty carcass somewhere into the shadows before slinking back into the ground.

Putting a finger to the blood trail left behind from her tear, Kushina gazed out at all the limbs and body parts staining the alleyway. She felt nothing. No...that was a lie. She felt...happiness, a certain kind of parental happiness knowing that there were—she racked her memory—that there were 27 less people in the world to torment her child. In a flash of scarlet, she was suddenly back on the roof, appearing next to a specially marked red kunai wedged into one of the water cylinders. Almost longingly, she turned to gaze at her precious son. He was no longer crying she saw. He had moved to the door of his apartment and was very hesitantly glancing out of the peephole. Overcome with another sudden rush of motherly love, Kushina wanted to hug him as he slowly opened the door, sticking his head out to look quickly from side to side. He was so…_adorable_ as he searched for the mob, probably confused beyond all reasoning that they were so late to get on with their annual beating.

She waited until he had shut the door again, smiling when he double and triple locked it, before unwedging her special kunai and rearing back her arm. It may have been pitch black but she knew this village like the back of her hand and could easily pinpoint where the Hokage's tower was. Going even further than that, she narrowed down her throwing radius to the window that led to the Hokage's office. She'd always warned him that the price of having a birds eye view of the village was not worth the risk when an enemy could easily penetrate it. He had not listened to her. And now he would pay for it.

Her ears prickled. She could hear the sound of several ninja approaching, possibly jonin by the expert sound of their footfalls as they skipped over buildings. True, their movements were estinto, damn good for their training, but to Kushina they were little more than children whom she didn't have time to coddle and play with. She'd put them down for a nap later.

"Naruto, my dear child, you will see me soon," she whispered into the wind, and her arm blurred as she flung the kunai, watching it disappear with a little glint. An instant later she felt a slight ping in her chakra and knew that the mark had been hit. "But for now I have a rather..._urgent_ meeting with the Hokage."

She vanished in a flash of scarlet. Less than three seconds later, a multitude of no less than forty Anbu members arrived on the roof. While most of them looked around in confusion, so sure that their target had been _right_ here, only one with a bird mask looked over the edge down into the street below. What he saw caused him to rip the mask from his face and lean over, ignoring their commanding officer who yelled at him to put it back on before he expelled a massive amount of bile from his mouth.

As a collective, his fellows peered down as well. Nothing but the sight of ground up flesh and organs meet their roaming eyes and soon, the bird Anbu member was not only one vomiting. They were all aghast, horrified at the prospect that someone or something could do this. And why? For what reason?

"Yugao!" yelled their leader, sweeping his arm towards a masked purple-haired woman, one of the few Anbu who had not thrown up. She nodded at his call. "Go alert the Hokage at once! I don't know what did this but...damn, it's obviously something not of this world."

Yugao stood, prepared to make the journey in a single bound, when she suddenly crashed to her knees, slamming a hand to the roof in order to keep from toppling. What in the hell…? Everything seemed to gradually be fading; her sight, her sense of smell, her hearing, all of it was dimming as though she'd been snuck by a genjutsu. For the first time since becoming an Anbu member, Yugao knew fear as feeling left her legs leaving them lifeless, dead. Breathing was starting to get problematic and she looked around, growing increasingly panicked when several of her fellows began falling over, thudding like logs to the floor where they remained, motionless.

A tart smell assaulted her nose; her stomach suddenly heaved and before she could stop it, she spewed sick into her mask, the foul substance getting all over her face; she retched again as it clogged her throat causing her to swallow a good majority of what she'd spit up. Airway blocked, she gagged horribly until her arm support wavered and she fell sideways, her mask fortunately breaking away. Through globs of puke caked into her eyes, she saw a light-gray canteen tucked underneath one of the water cylinders, hissing as it released some sort of clear gas into the air. Her aching mind couldn't figure out what it was but she knew it was what had claimed her life…what had claimed the lives of her squad. She was the last to quit breathing, holding on by sheer will, but the toxin soon invaded her lungs with corroding force. Sputtering a mix of blood and foam, Yugao's shriveled body convulsed then stilled, her eyes rolling up into her skull.

**XXX**

**Next time**: Answers will be had as Kushina reveals her mysterious absence throughout Naruto's life as well as how she survived the Nine-Tails attack! And what of her student, Itachi? How did such drastically different people become master and student? Find out next time in A Mother's Sword: Devil's Analogy!

Kushina: Yes, do come back. The revelations will leave you…_lifeless_.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Reviews are awesome aren't they? Love 'em. To answer a few in particular and put minds at ease, Kushina will not be paired with Itachi, nor Naruto—there are no pairings whatsoever. The story's too short and for that. Also, I can almost guarantee that a majority of you will be pissed after this one. Therefore I say to you all, enjoy.

Chapter 3: Origins: The Zero Ninja

**XXX**

Appearing in another burst of scarlet light, it did not surprise Kushina to find herself standing in the Hokage's office. Her aim had been perfect after all. It always was. Her eyes moved down from the hole she'd made in the window, narrowing when they landed on the Hokage who sat most comfortably behind his desk, hands resting calmly on his crossed legs.

"Ah, my little Tomato," he greeted genially, referring to her by her codename.

Despite what she may feel for him at the moment, namely the corroding abhorrence spreading to her very veins, she bowed. Respect always had a home, no matter the situation. "Hokage-dono."

He nodded and she regained herself. "I see you've had a little fun with the people of my village," he smiled, indicating to the crystal ball that sat before him on the desk. It gave off an ominous light blue glow as rays of moonlight perforated the room. Kushina stood in the darkened half yet the Hokage could make her out perfectly, mostly due to her slitted cerulean eyes and the crimson that dripped from her hands. "May I ask why?"

"You know perfectly well why, Hokage-dono."

"Yes, I suppose I do." He sighed, his smile losing some of its warmth. "You aren't scheduled back in the village for another three years. Have you completed your mission?"

In the back of her mind, Kushina had calculated just over two hundred different ways to avoid being caught by the man before her, even going so far as to incorporate his vast knowledge of ninjutsu into the calculations. His codename was 'Professor', something that from its very conception Kushina had been against as it was an already well-known epithet. The Hokage seemed to be banking on that, figuring that no one would guess a common nickname held such importance.

"I aborted it," she answered honestly. There was no need to lie as ties were about to be cut all around. "Something more important came up, hence my early return."

The Hokage nodded, closing his eyes with an unruffled air. "Something...important? Never once have you dared to disobey my orders so flamboyantly and here you are now, murdering my people, my Anbu, and disturbing the peace that you and others have fought long and hard to preserve for the village…."

His words caught Kushina by surprise but it didn't last long and she bowed again. "Your gaze is as keen as ever, Hokage-dono," she commended, seeing the underlying meaning of his words. She had killed villagers, yes, and right about now the noxious gas that she'd left atop her rooftop should be incapacitating the Anbu that had arrived to contain her. "I hadn't thought you'd seen."

"Of course, silly child. There's rarely much I miss nowadays," chortled the Hokage.

Kushina stabbed her katana into the ground, firming her jaw. "Do you...enjoy torturing your students, Professor?"

"Why ever would you ask me such a thing?"

"You should have just let me die," Kushina started, barely audible, her eyes seemingly beginning to flare up. "I appreciate all you've done for me...but what of my child? What of the supposed hero of this village who's treated like _shit_ every day that he's luckily able to draw breath into his malnourished body? For over a decade I've had to witness those worthless sacks of flesh and blood out there reduce my sons spirits to dust, grind his hope into nothing but pain and laugh in his face!" Her voice had almost risen to a shout but her training kicked in at the right moment and she regained herself. "Forgive me, Hokage-dono."

The Hokage waved her apology away. "What you and I see when we look at Naruto must differ on drastically different planes...or maybe it is because you are his mother. As you have no doubt seen during the numerous times you've snuck in for little peeks," he began with soft chastisement, "Naruto has had a hard life, yes, but that life has shaped him in a way that he hasn't realized yet. Surely you have."

Kushina nodded, feeling her blood begin to boil. She didn't trust herself to speak.

"It's obvious that Naruto has more strength than anyone within this village. His talent far exceeds that of his classmates and even trumps those of an Anbu captain. And why not? He has yours and Minato's blood coursing through him, add to it the infinite power of the Nine-Tailed Fox. There is nothing in life that child will come across that he cannot overcome. Keeping him down was a necessity, a tool to stifle his power until he's able to join the rank of the Zero Ninja."

A terrible shudder ripped through Kushina's spine. Those were the words that she dreaded to hear but knew deep in her heart that one day she would. And it was those words that further cemented this village's gruesome fate.

If one were to desecrate Kushina's grave and open her casket they would find, not her, obviously, but the body of some poor unfortunate soul who just happened to be around the Hokage at the time of the 'switching'. The switching was what they called it when a ninja who was presumed dead actually walked among the living with another corpse under the ground in their place. It was an extremely rare occurrence and only happened for the privileged few...or the damned as those switched would say, some of them preferring to have simply died.

To her memory, Kushina briefly recalled standing on death's doorway the day she used her own body to defend her precious child...that was followed by a sea of blackness...and then she was waking, some months later deep within a facility. She remembered seeing Orochimaru but was provided little time to do anything when she saw the Hokage as well, both of them acting like the closest of friends while Kushina lay strapped to an operating table, her mind overcome with so many questions that she nearly blacked out from the stress.

Over the next year that was her rejuvenation, she learned that Hiruzen, who once again accepted the role of Hokage again after her husbands death, had devised a covert organized team known as Zero Ninja. It was that troupe that she was now apart of, whether she liked it or not. She quickly learned that Orochimaru defecting from the village was all a ruse, conducted by the third Hokage himself to get his favorite pupil out of the picture to assist him in countless ways from the shadows. Collecting data, tracking enemy movements, and inventing new jutsu's over a grand stretch of happily supplied test subjects were only a small amount of things Orochimaru committed himself too.

Kushina was nauseated, barely wanting to believe that all of this was true, that the Hokage and that snake bastard had aligned themselves under the guise of creating a better Konoha. He even provided Orochimaru routinely with fresh test subjects whenever he performed well on a job; they were mostly captured spies from other villages but the bile still swirled within Kushina whenever she saw a Konoha headband glistening from the pile of discarded corpses. She didn't know what to think, or what to do. So she did what she could. She subjected herself to the Hokage's will, joined Zero Ninja, and began to see the world as a very different place.

With entire countries only ruled by a single leader, it sometimes crossed her mind how order was able to stabilize itself with almost every single person in the world capable of learning earth-shattering jutsus and techniques. After joining Zero Ninja she quickly figured out that the true wars were fought in shadow, not on the surface. The world she thought she knew was nothing but a facade, a peaceful paradise that had always been on the edge of being doused in a torrent of blood. Ninja were always on the hunt, _always_, constantly moving and sneaking and it was the job of a Zero Ninja to make sure they never crossed the borders.

She had decimated entire armies in her line of work, contingents of more than sixty soldiers that would try and sneak in under the veil of night or a celebration. It almost called of her to increase her skills because when she entered the group at her current level she was nearly swallowed alive by the fierce demand to be here, to be there, to kill that person, or to spy on that group. She had no choice but to grow, to become the type of soldier that she was today. The kind that listened without a backwards word, who followed orders without wondering why, who completed missions and felt nothing regardless of who they had seen off the planet. Emotions had no place within the Zero Ninja...yet now, as she stared at the Hokage, she could feel those repressed feelings begging to burst free.

"Until he's able to join…? Pardon me, Hokage-dono, but I thought...that your plan for him was to become your predecessor," she questioned as respectfully as she could. She could feel memories of a forgotten discussion creeping over her shoulder like a callback from hell. "He can't become that if...that's a goal impossible for one if they become a Zero Ninja."

The Hokage laughed, his cloak beginning to billow from the wind flowing in through his busted window. "My little Tomato, that was only a bargaining chip to get you to stay in line and follow orders," he said, bypassing how her eyes flared menacingly. "I wondered how long you'd be able to take seeing him treated so brutally so I decided to give you something to work for. In exchange for your services I said I would highly consider his dream of one day being the Hokage. Years later, I've considered it and deemed it unhealthy for the village."

A terrible pain lanced throughout Kushina's head as mental restraint gave away into more unearthly feelings. Surprisingly, her face didn't show it. Zero Ninja only accepted the elite, and she was currently the highest of them all.

"So that is your will, Hokage-dono? Naruto will not become Hokage?"

"As long as I breathe?" The Hokage chuckled softly. "No, child."

Kushina stilled her rapidly pumping heartbeat to a calm tempo. "For all these years I've forgone contact with my child out of loyalty to you and your cause, out of thanks for saving my life and giving me a second chance...you would deny Naruto the very thing he deserves more than anybody." It wasn't a question, more an inner epiphany, yet the Hokage took it as such.

"Yes. Why so confused, little Tomato?"

"Then who _will_ rule?" she wondered.

"Orochimaru." The answer was like a nail driven into Kushina's stomach. "The way we have it planned out is he'll appear back in the village wanting to be accepted again. I already know the council won't see it but I'll have him present to them an abundance of enemy intel and describe his work as being purely for the village's benefit. I figure Danzo will agree first, and then the rest will follow like the sheeple they are."

"And what of the ninja he's experimented on?" She wanted to use the children he'd abducted as a reason too but spending time with Zero Ninja she learned that a good majority of them had been returned, one after another like clockwork. And it suddenly hit her that Orochimaru and the Hokage had been conspiring even way back then. "Regardless of what he gives them, they won't forgive his inhumane experiments."

"Of course they will, my child!" exclaimed the Hokage, extending his arms out grandly. "For who has to know? The only ones who know that are I, Orochimaru, you, and the other members of Zero Ninja. He spared the children, an incident that still confuses the council, now please, cease this foolishness and return to your work. I can create a cover for this night's little...show, but you will be punished for it later."

"I do not require a cover, Hokage-dono," whispered Kushina, experiencing more rage than she had in her entire life. "I want the creatures of this village to know what happened and who did it."

Chuckling, the Hokage lowered his arms and leaned forward onto his desk. "Don't tell me that now, after all these wasted years, you're suddenly having a change of heart?"

"A change of heart? Hokage-dono, my heart died with my husband. Only my child has kept me going," she explained with a small chuckle of her own, one that caused the Hokage to frown slightly. "I ask again, why do you enjoy torturing your students? I suspected things were beginning to slip out of your control when Danzo ordered Itachi to wipe out his entire clan and you actually let such a folly end the way it did."

"That was also a necessity and you know it, child," snapped the Hokage perhaps a bit more harshly than he meant. Kushina felt his chakra spike if only for a second. "He was the youngest member to be inducted into the Zero Ninja. The fact that his clan had turned out to be a group of people joined together to overthrow Konoha was pure coincidence."

"A coincidence that you used," Kushina pushed.

"As a last ditch effort. I tried to _reason_ with the Uchiha but they were adamant on bloodshed."

Even though the Hokage spoke of reasoning, all Kushina could visualize was a sadistically smiling old man handing over bodies of the Uchiha clan for Orochimaru to experiment on...which he did, but they had been dead by then. True, the Hokage had reasoned, but not very hard nor for very long—he'd secretly craved their demise and Itachi provided a perfect way to get what he wanted. He himself wouldn't give the order, as that would've created a bad image, leaving Danzo to be the cold-hearted bastard. That day would forever stick out in Kushina's memory. All the bloodshed, the pure elation that encompassed Orochimaru as he happily tore into Uchiha after Uchiha, and finally, the deadened look over the young Itachi's face as he bore witness to the entire grisly scene. Before her revival, she had always talked with Itachi as he just struck her as someone who if they didn't release certain pressures they would snap. It was easy to see through his faux cheery atmosphere into the troubled soul of a boy with too much placed upon his shoulders all at once. Her tender grasp of his situation allowed him to open up and the talks became more frequent. Until her death.

After her revival, she followed the code of Zero Ninja and refrained from keeping contact with him, watching as he withdrew more and more into the shell he had crafted for himself. Shortly after graduating the ninja academy, she revealed herself to him, risking her very life, but she had a strategy and it began by telling him to keep a close eye on his family. Itachi was both thrilled to learn of her revival yet disheartened by the news that came with her sorrowful smile. He didn't want to believe it but followed her advice, keeping tabs on his clan while also enlisting her to help train him. Kushina greatly accepted, more out of her own self-benefit than his. When Itachi entered the Anbu ranks at thirteen, Kushina already had it in her mind that one day this village would burn in flames and she figured why wait to kill it's strongest component when Itachi would more than likely be tasked with it? She gave him the tip, he gave the tips to the Hokage who inducted him into the Zero Ninja Organization while playing the part of the pacifist, so that left Danzo to go behind his back and give the order. That was almost too easy yet Kushina didn't want Itachi to be isolated for something that had to happen. His family had been corrupt, not him. After asking the Hokage to protect his little brother, Itachi supposedly defected from the village, seen as a traitor by all; in truth, he'd not gone far and focused on his training with Kushina who did all within her power to heal his wounds.

"You used the boy just as I did," mused the Hokage maliciously, smirking almost madly.

"Don't you _dare_ fix your lips to classify me in the same category."

"And why not? Our goals may have begun differently but they ended the same, with the strangulation of the Uchiha clan. And then you took it one step further by coercing him to tell me of his clans intentions. I should have seen through that but I was too distracted by his supposed loyalty towards the village and recruited him. Very well done," he added with two golf claps. "After I'd figured it out, needless to say I felt more than a little daft and decided against killing the little Uchiha. There was no major harm done."

"_Such is the folly of old age_."

Neither the Hokage nor Kushina missed a beat in their heart rate when a single crow flew in through the hole she'd made in the window; it cawed once as it circled Kushina, loosing a torrent of black feathers that very nearly blocked her from sight. When all the feathers had fallen and the bird disappeared in a puff of smoke, the Hokage stared down to see another figure crouched before his little Tomato. It was his little Crow.

Itachi Uchiha lifted his head, fixing the Hokage with a blank stare, his eyes empty pools of black. As his upbringing and sensei had taught him, respect was always profitable. "Permission to stand, Hokage-dono."

"Permission granted," said the Hokage benevolently.

Itachi rose, his Akatsuki vest trailing silently to the ground. Staring at the back of his head, Kushina wondered how long he'd be able to stomach wearing that atrocious thing. He did not belong the that group, he never had, only joining under the Hokage's orders after the final member of the Z.N.O had discovered them. "You should know, Hokage-dono, that if you strip a person of everything they hold dear…then they have nothing to lose and all to gain."

"Wise words from one so young," the Hokage commended.

"Itachi," Kushina called. He didn't look back so she continued. "You're early. I trust your preparations went well?"

"Very well, Ku-sensei. My younger brother was absolutely ecstatic to see me again, so much so that I had to settle him down."

Kushina had always appreciated Itachi's talent for sarcasm but interpreted his words to mean that Sasuke flew into a rage and tried to attack him leaving Itachi no other choice but to knock him out. That was fine, all well and good. Kushina had confided in Itachi and the other member of Z.N.O that she was going to demolish Konoha and had given them the choice of saving a single person. Itachi naturally chose his younger brother and Kushina had allowed it on the stipulation that if the raven-haired boy showed signs of seeking revenge that Itachi 'handle' him further.

The final member of the Z.N.O would be arriving shortly.

"So, master and pupil," beamed the Hokage. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Itachi? Your sensei seems to be taking the long way about telling me why there are now two of you here, disobeying my strict order and code. Perhaps you will tell me…?"

Itachi bowed, then straightened. "Certainly, Hokage-dono. We are here to destroy Konoha and kill everyone within."

"Ah, I see." The news did not upset the Hokage in the slightest. Kushina suspected ahead of time that it would not and already knew the old man was knowledgeable to their intentions, probably since the first time she'd visited Naruto and left the boy his training scrolls. "So am I to understand that you, Kushina Uzumaki, and you, Itachi Uchiha, intend to shatter the peace I've struggled to create and tarnish our sacred bonds?"

"Let's not go through this routine," Itachi offered sullenly. "Let's not insult one another's intelligence by going through clichéd spiel. Once upon a time, yes, Konoha stood as a symbol for the righteous to gather behind, to let all others know that within our heart of fire laid a heart of courage. Where has this fabled courage gone, Hokage-dono?"

"Why, it rests with all of you."

"And you think putting Orochimaru in charge of this once great land is the _smart_ thing to do? The wise thing?"

"Most certainly not but, unlike the both of you, I know I won't have to worry about him going back on deals or having a—how did you put it?—_change_ _of heart_."

Wordlessly, Itachi reached into his cloak and pulled out a single black kunai, a special piece of weaponry that Kushina had crafted for him more than a decade ago. To this day, he remembered her exact words concerning it: "_When I call upon you, Itachi, reveal this to let me know whether you stand with me or against me. I won't tell you what I require your assistance with—you will have to decide with your heart what path to take._" She now eyed the child before her with masked gratitude. A contingency plan had been formed, of course, one where she had 'handled' the Uchiha along with the Hokage, but now she could assuredly delete it.

"Then we have nothing more to discuss," the Uchiha decided coldly, and the Hokage had to wonder why his Sharingan had yet to be activated. "Shall we, Ku-sensei?"

Kushina reached over, pulling her own special kunai from the wall. "Yes."

"My little Tomato, you surprised me a great deal the day you revealed to me that you had taken your late husbands technique, the _Yellow Flash_, and had adopted it into your own personal arsenal dubbing it the _Scarlet Flash_. If I may ask before blowing out your candle permanently...did you teach it to little Crow as well? Is that why he also has a kunai?"

The element of surprise was more than a ninja's best friend, it was their closest alley, a means to continue living, and Kushina knew all too well the consequences to follow should that element ever become compromised. If the Hokage wanted to hold in his mind the notion that Itachi had somehow mastered a technique that had taken Kushina herself over two decades to learn, then let him. Itachi was a genius after all, it was more than believable.

As though coming to the same conclusion, Itachi spoke up. "_Prepare yourself, Professor_."

With skills honed through sheer talent then pushed even further under Kushina's tutelage, Itachi rushed forward in a black and red blur—the Hokage rose to his feet, the action so fluid it seemed as though he were always standing. He had just lifted a wizened hand when Itachi swerved to the left, made a slashing movement, and dove through the window without leaving so much as a scratch on the glass.

As the Uchiha plummeted towards the village below, the Hokage kept his eyes trained on Kushina who, oddly, had yet to move. He narrowed his eyes dangerously, flaring his seasoned chakra. Yes, he was annoyed as realization began to dawn. "What technique did Itachi...no, better yet, what are you rascals planning?"

Now Kushina graced the old man with a smile that bled insanity. "I never said who was going to decimate the village, Professor. As the most accomplished of the Zero Ninja, it's my honor to take you on. I, Uzumaki Kushina, will be your opponent," she declared.

She could see the Hokage's mind racing now, working faster to try and understand the current chain of events. She knew he had to be cursing his old age, the ultimate weakness of any great shinobi. He began to frown as he stepped around to the front of his desk.

"Why the frown, Hokage-dono?" she wondered vaguely, reading the answer in an instant. "Are you upset over your disciples betrayal? Or...perhaps...it has to do with the fact that your supposed helping hand has yet to arrive as scheduled?"

"True, Orochimaru is a tad late," sighed the Hokage with slight annoyance.

"Yes, I suppose he would be," Kushina agreed softly. She knew perfectly well that regardless of the prestigious title, she could take the Hokage's life. It was just another terrible reason why she had waited till Naruto's thirteenth birthday to act, to allow time and all its malicious intent to rob the old man bit by bit of his youth, his vigor, his _strength_.

Ever since learning of his underhanded methods, she'd always harbored comforting thoughts of slitting the Hokage's throat and peeling back the flesh but any ninja worth their salt could accept when they were dangerously outclassed, and she had been inferior to him in every sense of the word. Now, her longest running plan ever had finally come to fruition. The old man was up there in age, unable to perform a majority of his more complicated jutsu. Even with all the pieces in their place, she knew this fight would not be easy and that she would suffer greatly in the process but so long as she retained her arms to hug Naruto with…then it was okay….

"I will handle you, Itachi will handle the village's primary fighting force, and your stared pupil, Orochimaru...well…." Kushina paused, glancing at a point out the window. "I assume he's having difficulty with little _Fang_."

For the first time since their meeting, the Hokage expressed sincere shock, his mouth falling open somewhat. He understood what that meant and now began to see the severity of the situation. Without a word, the Hokage burst through his office window, taking the whole wall with him in his haste to escape. Kushina rushed to the edge and looked down at the buildings below, now crushed with the rubble, yet she saw no sign of the Professor.

She sighed. The first hurdle had been completed, thanks to some good acting and well placed lies. It was never in her original plan to fight the Hokage as she'd need a majority of her strength to level the village...the village that was now woefully without it's Hokage to protect it. She knew where he was going, out into the forest as he followed his precious students chakra trail. Now, with him out of the way, hopefully for good, and Itachi gone to cripple Konoha from the inside out, that left her with some very _personal_ matters to attend to.

Namely, finding her child and holding him before the bloodshed began.

Kushina glanced up into a darkened sky peppered with twinkling sparks of light. She sent up a small prayer. "This operation depends on you slowing them down, Sakumo Hatake, my precious Fang." She couldn't call that man 'little' as he was technically older than her, older in all the ways that counted, and he probably didn't need her prayers but still...she gave them anyway. A moment later, she lifted her special kunai and took aim for the cracked window that led into her child's apartment; she couldn't see it from so far a distance but the general direction was there and she zeroed in on it. This was but a minuscule talent of a Zero Ninja.

"Naruto, _I'm coming_."

**XXX**

**Next Time**: Kushina finally speaks with Naruto after thirteen years of being kept in the dark! Will he be able to forgive her or will rage overcome all? Find out next time in A Mother's Sword: Devil's Analogy!

Kushina: All you little ones out there may call me Ku-sensei as well if you wish. I rather like that term of endearment.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: What's up, people? Once again, thanks for the reviews. I read them all, smiled, and chose one in particular to answer, but that's later. For now, enjoy.

Chapter 4: That Precious One

**XXX**

Tears poured from Kushina's left eye moments before a fist caught her squarely in the lower part of her jaw; a bolt of lightning ran throughout her body and for one brief moment, she was stunned, unable to move. But she could think, and the first thought that perforated her mind was, _I deserved that_….

She didn't stumble, not from just that. While a well-placed punch, one that effectively cut her reflexes in half, it would take ten times that to inflict lasting damage. Still, she beamed on the inside as her eyes found the blonde child standing in front of her. He was crying as she was, albeit from both eyes, and his hands were balled into trembling fists. On his table, that putrid cake from had a couple slices missing. So the little guy had a cast iron stomach….

"Don't you do that! DON'T LIE ABOUT SHIT LIKE THAT!" he suddenly roared, and Kushina could feel the demonic chakra of the fox settling into his own. It wouldn't be set free, of course, as years of following the strict regiment she'd left behind had enforced him spiritually as well. "You _bitch_! I don't know who the hell you are but how dare you call yourself my mother! My mom is dead!"

Despite the slight discomfort in her cheek, Kushina continued to smile down at her enraged child. He was angry, more angry than he'd perhaps been in his whole life, and it crushed her heart to know that it was she who had caused it. She had wanted to show herself far earlier—oh God, how she did—but she kept hidden, so certain that she was solidifying his future as the next Hokage, giving him his _dream_...but that had been a lie, a lie that had cost her thirteen years of wasted opportunities.

His first word...his first steps...his first food...his first laugh….All at once, an overwhelming multitude of 'first' things that Kushina had missed began ramming its way into her brain. The ache in her soul became so paramount that her right eye began to leak blood. Just the sight of it blind-swiped her child from his path of madness and he looked stunned.

"Naruto," she began, taking a step forward, but he backed up. A nail of hurt hit Kushina in the heart yet she continued. "I'm not asking you to believe me, or forgive me—those are privileges that I haven't earned. After all these years watching you be subjected to _this_, this lifestyle unfit for even a beast, I...I only ask that you _run_." She pointed a hand through his window. "This village is going to be burned to the ground."

The shock became more pronounced. "What? Why?"

She fixed him with a hard stare, stabbing her katana into the ground. "Will you listen to what I have to say?"

Naruto stared the woman up and down, his face lined with pure disgust. Kushina knew automatically what he thinking: how dare this woman suddenly appear into his little slice of freedom from the outside world and claim to be his mother? What right did she have in even saying that? "I won't listen to shit," he finally declared, beginning to walk towards the table, his eyes never once leaving her. "You're crazy, lady...but I'll tell ya this," and Kushina watched as he flipped the table over, sending cake splattering over the floor and plates shattering everywhere. He fiddled with a false floorboard, glancing over his shoulder to give her a sinister grin. "_I'm a whole lot crazier_."

The world came to a screeching halt when Naruto suddenly dove at her, kicking off with such force that he blew a hole into the floor; his body twisted in midair and Kushina barely had enough time to snatch up her sword when he rammed something metallic against the blade. A sea of sparks exploded into the air, illuminating the woman's widened eyes when she saw her child wielding what looked like an Anbu certified tanto, the guard a pale parchment color and the blade, standard issue gray. Nary an emotion fluttered over Kushina's face as she stared down at him, droplets of blood dripping off her chin onto his cheeks.

"Where did you get the blade, son?"

"_I am not your son_," he responded coldly, and Kushina could feel him trying his absolute best to push her back.

Against someone else, _anyone_ else, he would have gained extra footing, even probably broke through their guard, but Kushina had experience in spades and in a moment of clarity allowed herself to enjoy the fruits of his training. His form was just shy of perfect, lightyears ahead of those who had spent their entire lives under the sword; she could find a number of holes in his footing but figured it was good enough for his current level; and his eyes...he really wanted to kill her, exactly the type of dedication she wanted to see.

A line of aggravation crossed Naruto's face when it became clear that this woman was not going to be budged. Scowling, he forced himself back a couple of steps, his tanto up defensively, and wiped the blood from his whiskers. "Who..._what_ are you? Are you a civilian, or a ninja? You shouldn't have been able to block th—"

Kushina took a single step forward and blurred out off his vision. Before Naruto could move, she'd reappeared before him, her arms closing around his figure in a light embrace. She settled her chin into his blonde hair and closed her eyes. She could feel his warmth, the beat of his heart—she wanted to laugh at the scent of shrimp ramen but refrained. "My first hug," she uttered to no one in particular.

"Hey! The hell are you—_get off me_!" the boy thrashed, struggling underneath her but he quickly found out that her body was like rock, hard and unmovable. He struck her repeatedly in the stomach and gained nothing but sore knuckles after the fifth swing. "Ow! What are you _made_ of?"

"I am the byproduct of thirteen years of soul-shattering training, my son," she answered calmly, feeling nothing whatsoever of his attacks. "You cannot harm me."

"I am _not_ your son!" he roared and in the same instant Naruto lifted his tanto, Kushina whispered, "_Release_."

From one of the many drops of her blood staining his floor erupted a single metallic chain with a jagged tip; it rose like a snake and lurched towards Kushina who didn't move when it pricked her forehead. Naruto gasped but could do nothing when it turned to him—

"Wait, wait—what're you doing?" he yelled struggling but even though Kushina's grip on him was light he couldn't break free. "What _is_ that?"

"It's all my love for you."

The chain's jagged point punctured Naruto's temple. His face morphed, expecting pain, but it didn't come, he only felt a warm liquid trailing down the side of his head as his vision began to leave him. A chilling darkness settled in, lasting for only a few seconds before he was soon staring at himself. Wait..._was_ that himself? Had to be as no one else in the village had blonde hair and blue eyes like that, but how? The version he was looking at was years younger, if the decreased height and sunken cheeks were any indication. Confused and bewildered, Naruto watched as the younger version of himself began to cry as he walked away from the academy, beginning with small tears that soon turned into a wounded cry.

He could feel an ungodly wrath that was not his own beginning to grow white-hot behind his chest and suddenly, this tunnel of vision of which he looked through shifted and began making great leaps and bounds over the buildings tops. Naruto hadn't a clue as to what was going on but was slightly intrigued when whoever's eyes he was watching this through came to a halt just outside his apartment. They swiftly let themselves in and pulled out three scrolls that they craftily hid in different sections of his home. The eyes blinked and suddenly, Naruto was outside in the trees, watching his younger self enter the apartment only to collapse, drained and crushed mentally. Patiently, whoever was watching the younger version waited more than three hours for the younger Naruto to pick himself up, stumble into the kitchen, and pull down a cracked bowl for food only to nearly drop it upon finding one of the hidden scrolls.

"Wait," Naruto voiced as another unknown feeling crept into him. The person watching him was experiencing a tender happiness as his younger self unfurled the parchment, a bewildered smile crossing his face at the sight of this helpful aid. "I...I remember this day, it's the first day I went to the academy and found…."

The scene change, blacked out again before widening to reveal a darkened version of Naruto's apartment. His field of vision was narrowed down at the sleeping bundle that he knew had to be him; this Naruto looked a couple years younger than the last, smaller at least, and lay curled up on the hardwood floor with nothing but a patched blanket to keep him warm. It was doing a very poor job and Naruto watched his younger self shiver terribly, a cold sweat glistening over his forehead. For a long time, Naruto was forced to watch this, the eyes never leaving, but then suddenly he saw a hand reach towards him. It came to within a breath's distant of touching the younger Naruto, their slim fingers almost able to caress his locks of dirty blonde hair. The hand hovered, trembling—and then all at once, Naruto was bowled over with a grief that was not his own, one so powerful and consuming that he felt tears well up in his eyes. His bottom lip quivered as he watched tears fall from the eyes watching him. Whoever was watching him...they were crying, heartbroken. The hand suddenly made a fist so tight that Naruto felt the pain when their nails dug past flesh.

The eyes blinked. When they reopened, Naruto gasped through his tears to see those tender hands from before shoving someone up against a redbrick wall. The person being shoved was a man, the most ghoulish man Naruto had ever seen, one with pasty white skin and long, oily-looking black hair. Their eyes held a sadistic delight even as one of the delicate hands closed around his throat.

"What's wrong, Kuku?" he drawled and just hearing the name, Naruto experienced a spike of instant hate, half his own and half belonging to whoever was choking the man. "Did I upset you? Please tell me you see this coming. You are by not means an ignorant lady."

"Hokage-dono will not go back on his word!" growled the one holding him. It was a feminine voice to be sure, one laced with a longing to kill. "He promised me that he would make Naruto Hokage one day! It's what I've been fighting for—it's why I haven't even so much as held my child! How dare you stand here and make such accusations!"

Even though Naruto didn't know this woman from adam he could feel that this was one of the rare moments when her emotions had gotten the better of her. The man she held, the one that reminded Naruto greatly of a snake, began to giggle with glee. "It would not do to have a demon in charge of a major country, Kuku," he persisted. "When you think about it logically, it only makes sense. The people of Konoha would never accept it. They want someone they believe they can trust, one with a great background and celebrated class. Your little demonspawn may have power, but he won't have the people. There will be no security for him, there will be no love for him, there won't be a _future_ for him."

Naruto winced when one of the delicate hands curled into a fist that struck the man silent, his head snapping to the side as trails of black liquid dribbled over his chin. She increased the hold on his neck and now the glee was gone from his eyes.

"It is one thing to speak of Hokage-dono going back on our arrangement like a common vagabound," she began tersely, and Naruto could feel her shaking with rage, "but I will not allow you speak of my child like that. _Open your mouth_."

There was no fear on the mans face but Naruto, with his senses honed, could smell faint traces of it on him. He did as he was told, gagging when the woman reached inside and pulled out a thick, purple organ that confused Naruto. The next second, a kunai was too it, and the vision he saw through narrowed itself dangerously.

"To stop a liar all you need do is cut off their tongue," and Naruto cringed when she began cutting and the man began screaming. This didn't deter her and she sliced with force, oblivious to the copious amounts of black fluids spilling over her fingers. When she'd finally cut through, she gripped the mans bottom jaw, wrenching it down further than Naruto felt anybody's should go and jammed the piece of muscle into his mouth. "If you _ever_ speak of this again, the next thing you lose you won't be growing back."

The woman blinked and Naruto was once again swept into another memory, and then a another. It was a tunnel of memories that played out in no specific order of time but explained more to him about the woman. He quickly realized he was watching everything through her eyes and was able to experience what she did, including the joy of watching smaller versions of himself accomplish goals and the sadness of when he was mistreated or wrongfully accused. It was all one big rollercoaster that showcased a good majority of his life.

When it all ended and Naruto found himself back in the present, standing before that very same woman with fiery red hair, the grip on his tanto loosened and it clattered to the floor. His shoulders trembled and his face scrunched up as tears began escaping. He felt as though punched in the gut with no warning, like his stomach had been dropped into a bottomless hole.

Kushina watched her son struggle with himself. He was angry, he was confused, but most importantly, he was heartbroken. She'd implanted within him all the memories she had concerning her little blonde-haired treasure, everything from beginning to end.

"Naruto," she called softly and Naruto slapped a hand to his mouth, his entire body quaking now. "All these years I've watched you grow up hated, beaten, ridiculed...words alone can't express the sorrow I've felt, knowing that I should have been there for you, to shield from all of that. I should have...but I wasn't. I left you to fend for yourself, to grow up thinking you were all alone and that nobody cared." Kushina put a hand to her heart. "My heart beats because yours does. All these years, you're the only thing that's kept me going. Whenever you were happy, I felt it. Whenever you were sad, I felt it. When you smiled, I smiled and when you cried...I wept beside you." Her voice began to crack, tears filled her left eye, but she firmed herself. "Your forgiveness is something I cannot possibly hope for, nor do I want it. For all intents and purposes, your parents died the day the Nine-Tails was sealed. You had no choice, you were shouldered with an enormous burden at birth and walked through life without anyone to hold your hand and explain things."

She paused, fixing the image of her child in her memory. After today, she would probably never see him again and wanted to mark things down for when a quiet moment ever came so she could reflect. His whiskers, a curse of that fox, were so prominent now. She liked that he'd allowed his hair to grow once out of the orphanage instead of keeping it short and spiky. He had a very handsome smile, one that would no doubt attract a pretty girl to bless him with children and, in turn, grant her grandchildren that she would drop by and secretly spoil silly. Just the mere thought filled her core with warmth. She wasn't afraid of leaving him again, not this time. Aside from his lack of cooking, he had virtually raised himself anyway so the worry was stifled somewhat. Maybe he would go to Lightning Country. She knew that the brother of the Hokage was a jinchuuriki as well so maybe they could become friends…?

A single tear escaped her eye as she pointed to the door. "Run, Naruto," she ordered with as much authority as possible yet it came out hoarse, more of a desperate plea than anything. "Escape this village. You're free now. I'm going to burn this entire place down and give you a chance at a better life."

Naruto did not move. He only stood there staring at her, hand still clamped over his mouth. He was no doubt still shellshocked by what he had seen. Kushina could understand that but time was of the essence and after this meeting she yearned with a burning desire to cut something, something that could gag and bleed.

"Go!" she yelled, her heart breaking further when Naruto flinched. Her lips trembled but she forced a small smile. "P-please...Naruto, go. You're free now, honey. Go and live."

Before Kushina could fully get the sentence out, Naruto had tackled her, ramming headlong into her midsection, and threw his arms around her in a tight embrace. "_Mom_!" he cried, burying his face into her. "Mom! Mom! Mom!"

Perplexed, Kushina stared down as he repeated the word over and over, his voice a cross between yelling and sobbing. The grip he had on her was paramount; it would have broken the spine of a normal person but to her it was akin to receiving a bear hug.

"Don't leave!" he yelled out, staring up in her face with pleading eyes that only served to render her soul. "I'm m-mad as _fuck_ but don't go! Don't l-leave me again, I—I want you to stay! Don't talk about leaving—that's stupid! Really_ stupid! _Stay here with me!"

He slipped into babbling halfway through but Kushina caught the gist and placed a hand over his head. He instantly jumped into it, loving her touch. She smiled.

"I can't stay with you, I'm not fit to—" she began but Naruto's hold suddenly increased and a small sting of pain settled in her back. This was definitely a Nine-Tailed hug.

"NO! Y-you were there, always watching me, helping me! You been gone all my life and then come back for like three seconds just to say you gonna leave again? Screw that, I want my momma back!"

Before Kushina could speak he suddenly clamped down on her hand, his teeth sinking deep into flesh as he froze her with a single red-eyed glare. Trained as she was, Kushina's first reaction was to knee him in the stomach but she didn't, remembering just as quickly that this was her child. "Do you forgive me?" she asked in a tone devoid of pain.

Naruto spoke through her hand. "No, I don' shink I evuh will...bu' we can shart ovuh. You owe me dat mush."

She mulled his words over, able to feel his tongue as it coasted over her hand, no doubt taking in her blood. It only took her a moment to figure out his plan but, as all experienced ninja knew, all one needed was a moment. He hadn't bitten her to keep her in place, but to get some of her blood and chakra in his system so he'd be able to follow her in case she left regardless of his offer. Watching him over the years, she knew he had exceptional skill in the area of tracking and given Naruto had faithfully followed her training regimen, she also knew avoiding him would be no easy feat, if at all possible with the fox assisting him.

"Touché, my little treasure," and she dropped to one knee, holding out her arms experimentally. She'd never done this type of thing before and wondered what followed next.

Apparently, Naruto was not used to such a thing either and stared at her arms with a foreign look. Just what in the hell…oh. Realization sank into the blonde when he remembered seeing his friends act this way towards their moms. He eagerly rushed into her arms and they embraced. "This is going to be fun," he muttered into her neck, loving everything about the woman who he had accepted to be his mother.

She agreed, nuzzling him tighter. This feeling, this warmth that seem to perforate every inch of her being...how she'd longed for it since laying eyes on him as a child. He had been beautiful then and he was even more so now. He was her child, her son, her everything, and now she was being given a second chance to do things right. "_I'll never leave you again_," she told him.

Naruto pulled back in her arms slightly, smiling as he rubbed at his moist eyes. "You promise?"

She nipped at her thumb, drawing blood and waited until Naruto had done the same before pressing their digits together. "I promise." Lost in her child's happiness, Kushina allowed herself a couple more seconds of enjoyment before subsequently killing all her emotions. Naruto took notice of this and had just opened his mouth when she stood, one hand on his shoulder, the other pointed at the door. "We'll be able to enjoy each others company after tonight, my son. For now, I need you to hide in the forest until this is done."

"Until what's done, why?"

"Because your mother is going to decimate this entire village, burn it to the ground, and I don't want you to bear witness to what becomes of these villagers or what happens to your once friends. I'm going to kill them all."

As Naruto bent down to retrieve his tanto, he gaped at her. "Mom, I don't—"

"This is nonnegotiable, Naruto," she added sternly, wondering if that was her training talking or her will as a mother.

Instead of answering back, Naruto put two fingers to the base of his tanto and dragged them to the tip. A crimson flame engulfed the blade with a heat so intense that Kushina herself had to take a step back. There was no doubt in her mind that it was fire from the nine-tails, she only wondered how he'd done it.

"You don't understand, mom," he spoke clearly, and the fire cast a haunting shadow over his face, one that made him look oddly demented, "I don't want to run. I'm through with that. _I want to help_."

**XXX**

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

Itachi waited patiently on the porch under the full moon. For half a second, he glanced up, feeling the night air breeze over his parched face. He felt nothing for what he was about to do but he appreciated Ku-sensei highly for allowing him to save his little brother. It had always been his hope to get in better straits with the littler Uchiha, and, granted their first meeting after so long hadn't been everything he thought, there was still time.

This would be the eighth house he'd stopped by. All the others he'd emptied of their inhabitants, taking them down in the most disturbing way his frayed mind could conceive. He chose this slower method as a sort of jump, something to kick-start his senses and alacrity until the widespread massacre began, and that wouldn't happen until Ku-sensei joined his side. They would take this village together as Itachi had long since given up on the people within this little ball of ignorance. He would give literal meaning to the phrase 'Konoha, the village of fire'.

The door opened revealing a twenty-something woman holding hands with a little boy no older than six. She was smiling at him, oblivious to who he was, and the moment she opened her mouth, Itachi assessed the situation with inhuman sagacity.

"Oh, hello, can I help you with—" The rest of her words turned into a gargle when Itachi shoved a regular kunai up through the bottom of her jaw, the point spearing her tongue in a rush of blood. The little boy could only gape at his mother, his childlike mind struggling to figure out what had happened when Itachi strolled in beside him, placing a hand on his head.

"Go to sleep, little one," and as Itachi walked he turned the child's head until it faced the opposite way, a grisly _crack_ emanating somewhere from his neck.

Those two kills were smooth and Itachi's ears were greeted with two dull thumps as their corpses hit the ground behind him. He looked around with a discerning eye, figuring this was a nice house if filled with gaudy furniture. It only took a second to discern that nobody else resided within as he felt no other chakras. Turning, he swept up a cup filled with warm tea from the table, stepped over the bodies, and out into the night once more.

As he walked at his leisure, Itachi mentally scratched another name off his list, that almost aggravatingly long list of the children Orochimaru had abducted when he'd left Konoha. Before joining Z.N.O, he'd heard of that atrocious act but thought no more of it once they had been returned. After he became acquainted with that snake-tongued sadist, he found that they were nothing but sleeper agents designed to be injected in various parts of Konoha's main working system; it was like having eyes and ears in all matters and operations that counted. Itachi hadn't like it then and years later his feelings still had not changed as he made it top priority to destroy these 'drones' first. That woman had been an agent, unknowing, blissfully unaware, and had even birthed a child it seemed. It was a shame that she was Orochimaru's plaything, but in the long run it didn't matter as _everyone_ was scheduled to perish tonight.

He sighed, sipping gracefully as he approached the next house. "And it continues."

**XXX**

A/N: I'm not even going to bother with a preview this time. I just need to clarify a few things from this one anon reviewer named Red before anyone else gets the wrong idea. I decided to break it down and answer each point as best I could:

**rly litle tomato ? o.O... kushina calling sakumo my precious...**

When Kushina was younger, kids teased her and called her Tomato. Now a part of Z.N.O, it's her codename. She calls Sakumo precious because all of Z.N.O used to be a family, everybody is precious to one another, they were virtually the only family they had.

**itachi calling kushina Ku-sensei... lol dude and WTF kushina teaching itachi hiraishin ? your a freaking joke.**

She's his sensei, hence Ku-sensei. Thought that part was pretty cut and dry. As for the hiraishin, I'm going to say it like Kushina: if you want to believe that Itachi learned such a powerful technique in less than a decade then go ahead, buddy. You won't see evidence of it in this fic but like I said, have your thoughts.

**remove this god damn fic from narukushi section this is fucking stupid. and bring this fic to kushina - itachi section...**

Why should I? You seem very thirsty for this to be a Ku-Tachi. It's not happening. It's about Kushina trying to do right by Naruto.

**rly now kushina doing everything to heal itachis wounds.. i mean lol everything so she slept with him and what not . fucking discusting.**

If I stated at the _beginning_ of the chapter that there are no pairings, why would you think this? I can't even fathom how you got to that point. Here, let me say it again: _There are no pairings, there is no romance. Period_.

**whats the point of this fic anyway ? your main plot and reason for this fic seems to be Kushina-Itachi relationship ?**

The point and plot circle around vengeance.

**in makes no fucking sense !**

First of all, you meant 'it' makes no sense. Secondly, if you have sense then this fic makes sense. I don't get why you're so worked up to the point of cursing and insulting me.

**what shes gonna do once she has naruto and konoha destroyed ? where will she go ? the plot actually ends there when you have no pairings.**

A fic does not need a pairing to stand strong. Fact. Concerning the plot, I was originally planning to either extend this one or make a part 2 as the opportunities after their goal are endless. You killed that.

**if you plan on itachi-kushina then remove this and bring it in the apropiate section. if its narukushi then it would make alot more sense. but its far to late now. since this has nothing to do with naruto - kushina . this is 80% kushina with itachi and some konoha bullshit.**

Repetition gets annoying so understand this: I write mainly because I love to do so, not to make _you_ happy. If people get joy out of this then all the better. Calling my story bullshit is fine—criticize it into the ground for all I care, but insulting me is not necessary. Hell, neither is posting a poorly written criticism but I appreciate the time you took to write it regardless of the headache it caused. Thanks for reading.

**XXX**

A big thanks to the rest of my readers who are waiting patiently to see how things develop instead of jumping to conclusions. I almost put this fic down because of that insanely ignorant review but I'm better than that and it'd be like a slap in the face to those of you who do enjoy it. So to all of you who read, who review, who've added this to your favorites and alerts list…thank you very much! I can't do anything more to show my appreciation than continue to write so that's what I'm gonna do. Durriken out.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: A Flame Extinguished

**XXX**

Deep within the forest surrounding Konoha, a ring of smoke escaped into the darkened sky. It came from the mouth of a ninja with dull silver hair, one whose face was creased like leather and set with timeless eyes, the type of eyes that never missed a detail and had seen all. This man sitting in a tree branch above the ground was named Sakumo Hatake and he was dressed in standard jonin attire despite the fact that his level of skill far ascended such a title.

"What a night." He glanced down. "Had enough, Snake?"

There was a crumpled body on the ground, one bent at an impossible angle with their head imbedded in the dirt. Taking another drag on his cigarette, Sakumo watched with listless eyes as Orochimaru unearthed himself and shook his head experimentally, scowling as he looked up.

"You _will_ regret that, Fang," he growled, a long, purple tongue falling from between his lips.

Sakumo chuckled, exhaling smoke. "How's that tongue doin' ya? Never did quite work right after Ku-chan cut it off, eh?" He remembered that incident as though it were yesterday and, just as he had back then, he pointed a finger at the ailing snake-nin and laughed. What else could he do? Sakumo had warned him not to fuck with Kushina that day so he wholeheartedly deserved what he got. Ever since she'd cut it, Orochimaru had been unable to elongate it even half as far as he used to, which Sakumo appreciated as he'd always found that ability disturbing in more ways than one.

A kunai was suddenly in Orochimaru's hands, one colored a poisonous purple. He lifted it and ran his tongue over the cool metal, eyeing Sakumo as though he were a newly discovered gem. "My tongue's working just fine. It'll be even better once I cut yours out and add it to my collection!"

Like the snake he was, Orochimaru leapt up while Sakuma laughed. "You collect tongues? Such a freak." Relaxing even further into his branch, he lifted a single finger towards the sky and made a swift swirling motion. On his command, the clouds residing overhead turned gray with an ear-shattering _BOOM_. Time slowed to a crawl and Sakuma watched as Orochimaru's face morphed into shock, realizing all too late the folly of his attempt.

"Yeah, this is going to hurt," he laughed, bringing his hand down. "_Raiton: Raikou-Jiku_."

A bolt of white lightning streaked down from the heavens in a flash of light that illuminated the entire forest; the air crackled, trees bent, and Orochimaru screamed out when he was struck, his entire body set ablaze with crackling flames. Inhaling smoke into his lungs, Sakumo watched as the corpse thudded back down to the earth where it lay, nothing but a ball of fire that licked and engulfed the once proud snake-sannin.

"I see," Sakumo exhaled. "So that's it, huh?" He glanced over his shoulder in time to see Orochimaru burst from the tree's bark, sending chunks of wood flying as he drove a kunai down too fast for Sakumo to catch. The blade sank into his chest like a hot knife through butter yet Orochimaru's smile was short-lived when a blindingly hot light escaped the wound instead of blood.

"_DAMN YOU SA—_"

The Sakumo in the tree exploded with an all-consuming electrical discharge that blasted Orochimaru through the forest like a ragdoll, his body bouncing and tearing through trees. With jarring force, he crashed into something sturdy and fell over, looking up to see Sakumo standing over him, arms crossed over his chest and smirking.

"Fell for the ol' lightning double, eh? This is just sad, Snake. Tell me what part of brain suddenly died and led you to believe you could defeat me?" He scoffed, extending an arm out to the side. "_Raiton_." His hand sparked like two blades clashing and lightning was born in a gust of powerful wind.

Sakumo didn't need to utter a specific jutsu name as years of experience and non-stop training had allowed him to turn his body into a constant lightning rod. He controlled it, contained it, and utilized it as easily as breathing. While time was certainly a ninja's greatest enemy, there was no denying the wonders that came with it, the wisdom to do and understand things that were neigh impossible at a younger age.

Contrary to popular belief, Sakumo never put much stock in the value of readying ones body by working out. For him, talent came natural, he'd never had to work at it or practice for more than a few minutes before a new technique was down pat and ready to use in any situation. For instance, his White Light Chakra Sabre, his signature move that everyone had given him praise for, was concocted wholly out of dumb luck. He'd been young and cocky, out running laps around Konoha during one of its more major storms. He'd also been stupid, a term that was only intensified when he climbed atop the stones faces of the Hokage mountain and extended his Anbu blade towards the heavens. To this day he didn't why he had done something so foolishly dangerous, only telling anyone who asked him that he felt an indescribable 'pull'. It was that pull that eventually led to him being struck by lightning. He'd managed to capture the bulk of the sky's wrath within his blade but the force of it blew him off the mountain where he crashed through his future wife's roof.

Over the next few years he would father a child, something that was both new and scary to the drifting Anbu leader. He was scared mostly because outside of his wife he never thought he could love anyone as much as he did that little bundle of silver hair that bore a striking resemblance to him. It could be seen as divine punishment when the mission flow increased, keeping him away from his precious family where before he enjoyed the thrill of a new adventure. That was in the past. Now he had something to protect—for the first time in his life—and he was adamant in providing for them life's every comfort. Celebrated as he was, the riches came in abundance and although he himself had no use for such trinkets, whatever made his wife and child smile was worth buying. He took great joy in training little Kakashi and regularly let him use his legendary tanto. He'd never forget the first time he let Kakashi hold it: the power had been too much and badly burned his hands as a result. Hospitalizing his own child had traumatized him more than anything, but Kakashi only laughed through his injuries and said he wanted to try again and again until he got used to it. Which he did, rather quickly. It was then Sakumo knew that when he eventually hang up his kunai and shuriken for good, his tanto would find further use in the trustworthy hands of his offspring.

The handing down came faster than anyone would have ever expected, least of all Sakumo who fell into such a deep depression after a botched mission that he committed suicide. Or so he tried. He remembered a painful flash of hot blood followed by a haunting darkness that he willingly flowed into, crushed both mentally and spiritually by how his life had turned out. He'd gone from being on top, celebrated and honored beyond reason, to this...floating in a tomb of dread, waiting for flames to peel up and drag him down into a hellish nightmare for all eternity.

A bright light chased away the darkness and it pulled him against his will. Honestly, he hadn't wanted to go into that tunnel for he knew what it meant and cursed when he opened his eyes to find he was still alive, albeit hooked up to an uncountable amount of tubes and needles, but still...alive. The first person he remembered seeing was the Hokage who gave some piss poor explanation about his blood loss, being resurrected using one of Orochimaru's more updated life-altering jutsus, and that because he was now breathing thanks to their efforts that he had no choice but to join the ranks of the newly formed Z.N.O. Sakumo remembered flat out refusing then attempting to go see his wife and child again. The ever-sadistic Orochimaru then joyfully told him that during the half a year he'd been 'under the knife' his wife had passed away due to grief and sickness.

It was like death had claimed him all over again and he listened with hollow ears as the Hokage and Orochimaru went into deeper detail about their operation. He didn't care. It was all shit. All of it. They told him that he'd cut himself pretty deeply—"_Well, yeah, I wasn't exactly planning on coming back_"—so when they got to him his body had only retained about six percent of its original blood while the rest comprised of scientifically altered plasma that would need changing every eight months or his ventricles would reject this new bloodstream and close themselves off thus rendering his heart useless. In other words, he would die of what claimed most in old age: a heart attack. That was also shit. Why did he care? His wife was gone and his child, from what they told him, had abandoned his feelings and adopted an almost militaristic view of the world where order came above all else, even lives.

Hearing this Sakumo still refused to join, seeing no need until the Hokage told him that if he continued his stubborn ways Kakashi would find himself without the glorious home left to him and placed into foster care. The urge to fight was strong within Sakumo but his anemic body just wouldn't allow it; he joined without question after being promised that Kakashi would be put on the best team conceivable and led by the man who was almost as widely known as he was: Minato Namikaze. The only downside came at the cost of never interacting with his son again…a stipulation he didn't mind so much. There was no way in hell he would actually follow that strict tendency, of course, and frequently snuck glances whenever he could.

Some years after that, he was welcoming a stunned Kushina into the fold. The two of them instantly got along, both driven by desires to protect their offspring, their very reasons for continuing to live. While he had accepted this course of action with some subtle revisions of his own—namely providing Kakashi with his very first copy of _Icha Icha_ to take his mind away from life's troubles—he could tell Kushina was losing it bit by bit, day by day, year by year. When she finally voiced her plans of leveling Konoha into the dirt, he didn't offer up any resistance. He only asked that he be allowed to spare Kakashi, to which she agreed. By then, little Itachi had also joined their ranks—such a sad child—and all he required was a single saved life as well.

Today was the fated day and, as per Kushina's orders, he was to handle Orochimaru and the Hokage singlehandedly. He almost laughed in her face when she told him what his role was. He had to wonder if the all the planning and the stress had gotten to the poor woman for her to even suggest he'd be capable of such a thing. He was a great ninja, there was no doubt about that, but even he had his limits. Kushina told him she was aware of this and promised that he'd only be fighting _one_ person.

_How do you always plan so far ahead, Ku-chan?_ he wondered, raising his crackling hand, determined to drive it through the snake-sannin's skull. "You always did disturb me in the worst way," he muttered as Orochimaru scrambled to back up. "_Go into the darkness_."

He struck with murdering intent, his fingers joining to form a spear. The air itself seemed to scream and for one brief and shining moment he actually thought he'd penetrated that snake bastards skull, but something grabbed his wrist at the last second; his middle barely grazed Orochimaru's forehead. Just making contact with such a raw element caused the skin there to bubble up angrily with a blister that instantly burst, sending a torrent of blood cascading down his face, clashing almost beautiful against his pale white skin.

Nonplussed, Sakumo blinked at the hand holding him, then his eyes traveled up into the furious face of the Third Hokage. Yes...here was a man who was seriously pissed, if the pressure being applied to his wrist was any indicator.

"Saved by your master," and in a moment that temporarily escaped the grasp of time, Sakumo snatched his broken wrist back and shoved two fingers to the Hokage's temple. "I was waiting for you, Hokage-dono," he whispered solemnly, and his fingers began to crackle with lightning.

"It's abundantly clear that you've sided yourself with little Tomato," the Hokage said with an almost disappointing edge, feeling nothing whatsoever of the heat gathering at the point where his flesh met Sakumo's fingers. "After all I've done…_this how you three choose to show your gratitude_?"

Sakumo forced a laugh. "_After all you've done_?" he repeated in mock-surprise. "Just what in the hell _have_ you done for us, Hokage-dono? Huh? You tell me that! You brought me back into a world without my wife, and my son only continued to breathe so long as I followed your despot rule! I would have preferred to stay _dead_!" he roared, feeling an untapped sense of anger spark to life, one that he hadn't felt in decades. "You've held me and Kushina under your thumb like little lab rats ever since you saw it fit to grace us with your twisted hospitality of a second life! You want to know what it feels like to lose a child?" He suddenly swung his arm around, aiming his charged fingers at Orochimaru who was in the process of climbing to his feet. "_Let me show you._"

The sleeve of Sakumo's jonin uniform was torn to shreds when he gathered over half his chakra and shot a bolt of concentrated electricity right at the snake-sannin, the force of it cracking the ground they stood on. Even though hampered by his old age, the Hokage moved with blinding agility, throwing himself in front of Orochimaru—

"NO!"

An explosion shook the forest, one so devastating that trees were uprooted, flung into the distance while a good majority of the greenery was simply blown away, disintegrated. A smog of debris clung to the air, but when it eventually fell away, there was no more wildlife within the surrounding area—no, all of that had been leveled and now Sakumo knelt down on a jagged patch of scorched earth, the power from his attack nearly blowing him off his feet.

He coughed, fanning away the dust that stubbornly prevailed. By all rights, he knew the power of that last attack should have buried all three of them but the Hokage was not called the Professor for nothing. In betwixt moving, he had blared his chakra like some bastardized version of the Hyuuga clans famed Rotation jutsu, effectively reducing the damage and fallout to tolerable levels. _Crazy fool, there's not a chance in hell you dodged that..._

Eventually, the scene became clear and the sight that met Sakumo's eyes almost brought forth a type of sympathy. Almost. Orochimaru had once again been knocked off his feet but the Hokage stood over him, his back to Sakumo who could quite clearly see the gash that had been torn into the old man's side. His white Hokage robes had been stained a sickening scarlet that glowed in the moonlight; it splurged blood in an almost geyser like fashion, leaking all down his legs to form a small but growing puddle at his feet.

"A...are you o-okay, little…little S-Snake?" he asked tenderly, and though his face was peppered with sweat he managed a small smile even as he coughed up blood, jolts of pain causing his body to spasm.

Orochimaru simply stared, dumbstruck. He had known the Hokage cared for him but...but not to his extent, not enough to actually….He had no words within him and merely scrambled to his feet, eyeing the wound that had been dealt to his Hokage. "Sarutobi-sensei, your side—" he started but the Hokage waved a silencing hand.

"It's...it's only a m-meager injury, child," the old man assured yet it was obvious by his labored breathing and weakening chakra force that it was far more than that. Inhaling deeply and regaining himself, he turned to face Sakumo who stared back with almost despondent eyes. "We'll t-take him together, Orochimaru," he managed to get out, bringing his hands together for a sign. "I c-can see it in h-his...in his eyes, he's regretting that h-he hurt me. W-we can use that to—"

The point of a sword viciously tore itself through the Hokage's chest cavity, the blade dripping blood like the purest of rubies. Caught in the motion of performing hand signs for an earth-based jutsu, the Hokage froze, watching as his blood welled up where the sword exited his body; he could taste a metallic liquid filling his mouth at such a rapid pace it nearly choked him. His head felt so heavy but he managed to turn it, looking back at his longhaired student.

Orochimaru had an inhuman smile stretched onto his lips, one of a clown-like quality that reached ear to ear. He met the Hokage's confused gaze with a piercing glare, one that made him seem like the devil incarnate. "It's because he can see what you can't, Sarutobi-sensei," he whispered with a teasing giggle. "_You've been tricked_."

Hiruzen's eyes began to roll upwards as what little life remained within his battered body flowed out with his blood. "Y...you were...m-my...pre...precious st-student…." he rasped, arms falling away limply. "W-why…?"

Licking his lips, Orochimaru pushed the blade in deeper, relishing in the strained grunts that echoed up from the Hokage's blood-filled throat. "Don't feel bad, Sarutobi-sensei," he hissed tantalizingly. "We all make mistakes, but we had a good run, didn't we? All our planning to control Konoha through a more stricter regime, all the talk of our Z.N.O contacting other countries organizations—they were all broad, glorious plans, but none of them were bringing me what I desired most." He twisted the blade slowly, agonizingly, drinking in the torment that flashed over the Hokage's face as his insides were stirred up. Tears welled up in his eyes, both out of pain and sorrow, and Orochimaru's glistening wet tongue found them, lapping up the fluids hungrily. "_I crave stimulation, the feel of death constantly looming over my shoulder_." He retracted his tongue, enjoying the salty taste of his masters tears; they were seasoned with the sugary flavor of betrayal. "I only received that high from you on rare occasions—other times, you were downright boring—while Kuku seems to leak it off her unconsciously. I find myself..._thrilled_ at the fact that she could possibly end my life, or that I could end hers. It's like a tango with death, elegant, _refined_."

In a flash of white light, Sakumo stood before the Hokage's impaled body, watching as the old man clung desperately to a life that was fleeing with each breath he took. "_Raiton_." Only the pointing finger of his left hand, the unbroken one, became ensnared with a sort of chirping lightning. "Betrayal is such an ugly thing, Hokage-dono, but it's also a two-headed coin. How does it feel knowing you brought about your own demise? We were all slated to die at one point or another but you...you ambitious old man, you helped each of us into the land of living once more. You let Snake escape when you could have killed him, you brought both Ku-chan and me back from death's doorstep, and you allowed Itachi to continue living even after being tricked."

He paused, waiting until the Hokage managed to turn those tear-streaked eyes to look at him fully. It was truly a gruesome sight, seeing the ruler of the once great Konoha butchered like a common pig, spilling an assortment of differently colored bodily fluids ranging from yellow to scarlet. His guttural rasps were annoying, as was the stench of urine that clung to the air; everything about this man was offensive to Sakumo who only saw the visage of a demon that had finally been brought to justice.

"When this darkness consumes you, Hokage-dono, there will be no one to bring you back."

"My v...v-village...the p-people...ch-ch-children…." the Hokage wept, struggling with every last inch of his being to stay alive. "D...don't…."

Without another word, Sakumo touched his finger to the Hokage's forehead, watching as his wrinkled face contorted with pure agony. Orochimaru giggled again; Sakumo ignored it and continued pushing, watching as the flesh there turned a blistering red. The Hokage's traumatized screams of pain carried over the charred land but Sakumo didn't stop. He burned away the wall of meat and tendon which yielded the Hokage's skull in all its bloody glory; smirking now, he added more pressure and felt a grim sort of satisfaction when his finger penetrated the Hokage's skull with all the ease of poking a glob of jello. By now, the Hokage's body was going through a heavy fit of convulsions and a little pool of vomit could be seen gathering at the back of his throat, too little to overflow but enough to gag on.

"Your fucked up legacy ends here," and Sakumo injected his finger into something thick yet malleable, something that he fried the moment he touched it.

Both Sakumo and Orochimaru watched as Hiruzen's eyes lost their deceptive sparkle and melted into a milky substance as the heat from his seared brain expanded; blood exploded from both ears, a scarlet stream that carried bits of cooked grey matter. Ignoring the eyeless sockets that stared at him, Sakumo pulled his finger out and wiped it over his jonin vest, feeling a vast assortment of emotions ranging from elation to confusion.

_Bury those feelings, you old fool. The hardest parts through...now comes the impossible part._

Looking as though this were a job well down, Orochimaru planted a foot on the back of Hiruzen's corpse and snatched his blade free, watching with some delight when the body fell forward with a gut-wrenching _splat_ that sent waves of blood rolling. He positioned his sword over his mouth and, tilting his head back, began lowering the weapon into his throat, taking extra time to lick the blade clean. When he was through, as per the plan, he performed a summoning jutsu and brought forth a near man-sized purple-backed snake. He gave it orders to transport the corpse to Hiruzen's study and prop it up in a comical 'died while in deep thought' kind of way.

As though hypnotized, Sakumo watched as the man who had given him a reluctant second chance at life was swallowed whole, his body disappearing bit by bit into the snakes elongated mouth until there was nothing left. Then it vanished in a puff of smoke.

He turned to Orochimaru. "You took too much pleasure in this, snake."

"On the contrary, I didn't take _enough_," Orochimaru sighed, running a hand through his locks and looking putout. "I made it too quick, I should have dragged it out. Can you actually believe that old fool thought I was like his surrogate son?"

When Hiruzen died so did the need to show the old man respect. Sakumo only chuckled. He really did hate Orochimaru with a burning passion sometimes but couldn't deny his usefulness in certain situations. Body deposal being one of them, a must in their line of work. Ha…work. Now that their supposed 'employer' was dead…what came next? They were technically free to do as they wished, to live how they wanted.

_We're…free._ His eyes stung with tears as the actual meaning of the word hit him but his training kept them at bay. "That was some pretty crummy acting back there. What was up with all those clichéd lines?" he wondered examining his broken wrist. "_It'll be even better once I cut yours out_," he mimicked with a scoff. "Jesus, I thought you'd blow the whole thing."

"If I were an actor, I'd be somewhere in the theatre. And regardless of your petty criticisms, I think my performance absolutely _killed _yours," Orochimaru remarked, taking Sakumo's wrist in a disturbingly gentle caress. Forgoing any precaution, he pinched it, forcefully pushing bones back into place with a vomit-worthy _crack_. Oddly, Sakumo's face betrayed nothing. "There. Fixed," he said as the lightning ninja wiggled his newly mended hand. "The old man was suspicious all the way up until the end. Admirable, if annoying. To have us pretend for that long was just rude."

Both he and Sakumo were aware that the Hokage had happened upon them when their little play first began and had taken to studiously watching them at first to make sure they were indeed fighting for blood before jumping in. Even though the acting was crude, Sakumo couldn't deny that it was hard for titans like them to_ pretend_ like they wanted to kill each other without literally doing it. To be honest, he feared that his _Raikou-Jiko_ technique had really killed Orochimaru. He chuckled.

And inhaled sharply when a drop of cold blood escaped his left nostril. He touched a finger to it while the smile left Orochimaru's face.

"I suspect your time is almost up," stated the snake-sannin passively. "It's been almost nine months, well over your limit. Change of plans, we need to get you back to the facility for a blood transfusion."

Where Sakumo expected his heart to start beating sporadically, panicked that his time was almost up, he only felt a kind of warped relief and wiped the blood trail away. "It can wait," he declared, a sudden realization ramming into his mind. "We have to find Ku-chan before she makes a big mistake."

"It can..._what_? No, Fang, it can't wait like it's some bothersome appointment," Orochimaru pressed, his nose twitching. "I can smell it on you. You're dying, corroding—those lightning jutsu's only served to hasten the process. Your original blood is close to being consumed, and when that happens…."

He trailed off yet Sakumo could find nothing to be afraid of. "I told you once before, Snake, to _not_ sniff me. Creeps me out. Now let's go. It's not proper to keep a lady waiting, especially a deranged lady like Kushina." He spoke that but what he really wanted to do was completely different, something that he was kicking himself for not seeing until the Hokage's last words reverberated through his head, registering on a level that he didn't know existed within him. Going to get fixed up now would cost them precious time and by then all would be lost; the best he could do was send up a prayer that his body held out….

The two Zero Ninja dashed towards the edge of the ruined landscape then leapt up into the thicket of trees and began branch-hopping with unparalleled dexterity, moving more as shadows than people.

_Please Kushina_, Sakumo thought frantically, grunting as a telltale pain sprang to life behind his chest, _please wait for me! We can't destroy the village!_

Even as he formed the plea in his mind, Sakumo knew he had about a snowballs chance in hell of convincing the enraged kunoichi not to burn Konoha to a bloody crisp. She was angry, blinded by pure hate. She wasn't thinking straight after being lied to and used for so long, just as they all had been...but now he could see it, the single shining reason that gave Konoha a redeeming quality. In her current state, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to make her face it—and then agree to it once she had—but damn it he would try.

"You look...worried, Fang," Orochimaru noticed from somewhere behind in the darkness. "Surely you aren't thinking of stopping Kuku, are you?"

Sakumo said nothing.

"I mean, heaven forbid and all, but if you were," Orochimaru continued conversationally, "then I would have to stop you. It just wouldn't do to go back on our plans during the last leg. No, that would be considered anti-climatic, and we wouldn't want to disappoint the people waiting for it, right? Of course, this is all hypothetical blabber because I know you're not thinking it."

And Orochimaru promptly fell silent but Sakumo could feel those snake-like eyes burning holes into his backside. He sighed, quickening his gait. Would this really turn out okay? Come the morning...would Konoha still be standing or would it be nothing but a crater of lost lives?

_Kakashi...I'm coming._

**XXX**

**Next Time**: As Sakumo races to Kushina, Orochimaru makes a little detour to find the one he wants to save. Who is it? And what happens when Naruto's mind begins to crack? Will he hold it together? And Kakashi...how will he handle seeing his father? Find out in the next chapter of A Mother's Sword: Devil's Analogy!

A/N: A few review responses:

**Mastur Cheef**: Yeah, about that, there's going to be a part 2 of this. Thanks for making mention all those times, man.

**maaka oro**: Make them go quickly as in don't take pleasure in it? Lol

**Shadow of a moonless night**: Good questions, hope you enjoy the answers. ^_^

**everyone**: Thanks always for the reviews, I really appreciate them, knowing people care enough about this to actually commit those feelings for me to read. Pure awesomeness. Durriken out.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: This is not the last chapter. I put up the wrong preview last time and didn't realize. It's fixed now and I apologize for that as this story still has a couple more chapters left. As always, enjoy.

Chapter 6: It Will Rain Blood

**XXX**

She was perched atop the adjacent roof, crimson hair flowing as her eyes narrowed tightly. Something about this didn't sit right with her—he was taking too long. Kushina stared down at one of the houses within the middle sector of Konoha, starting a countdown from ten in her head. To see if her child could handle the task of joining her, she'd sent him into a random house without telling him who lived there and ordered him to bring back their tongues.

_Was it too much of a request? Did he get scared, or does he just not know the proper way to sever a tongue?_ Millions of reasons behind his tardiness ran through Kushina's head, and each one caused her brow to furrow with worry. She didn't want the first task she'd ever given her son to end in failure, no matter what it was, and was just starting to stand when the front door creaked open, the sound almost magnified in the still night.

Her son walked out caked in a layer of arterial red blood from his waist on down. It was splashed over his arms and her eyes traveled down to his hands where she saw four squat, fleshly organs, each one a different shade of pink and length.

Kushina smiled, her heart swelling with pride. Her feelings must have become something physical for Naruto suddenly looked up, surprised to see her there before smiling back, holding up his free hand in a victorious peace sign. The moment he opened his mouth, she held up a silencing hand. He instantly followed her lead and leapt like the ninja he was, bouncing from building to building until he was right next to her, gleefully shaking his handful of tongues.

"I did it! Got 'em all!" he proclaimed.

"You've done well, my son," she praised, not at all disturbed by the copious amounts of blood covering him. That was all fine and good—completely unavoidable for what they were about to do—but for a tense moment she stared him in the eyes, seeing past his pupils into the amalgam of emotions that made up her son's psyche. She needed to make sure that performing a deed of this caliber hadn't broken him mentally, caused his mind to crack. She scanned, for hours in her mind, but in reality it was over in a blink and she'd found nothing seriously damaged. It was a relief to know that his mind was already severely damaged—about the same as hers no doubt—and that was also fine and good. A little bit of insanity kept the darkness away.

She suddenly looked up, smiling in such a way that Naruto calmed himself looking timid. Oh dear Lord, how cute he looked. How had she managed all these years to keep away from this adorable bundle of yellow energy? "You did well, Naruto, very well—now watch me and _learn_."

Confused beyond all reasoning, Naruto watched as a kunoichi with brunette-hair fell from the sky like a comet. In the time it took for him to inhale sharply, the woman hit the ground, lifeless, her head attached to the rest of her body by a single strand of blood-suffused flesh.

Naruto's mouth was hanging open, watching his mother but not really seeing her. In his mind, he replayed what had just happened: the woman fell from the sky—and then everything after was just a blur of Kushina's blade, a horrible _squelching_ sound, and then the hollow thud of a corpse. His heart was beating sporadically, approaching black-out levels, but then...he smiled.

"That was _awesome_!" he exclaimed as lowly as he could, reaching for the leather sheath on his back that held his tanto. "I've never seen—it's like one second she was standing and then _wham_! Dead! Holy sh—I bet she didn't even see it coming!"

Listening only partly to his exciting yammering, Kushina wondered what she would have done had he cursed. What would be the motherly thing to do? Scold him? Hug him? It was a fascinating conundrum, one of many she felt sure would be coming her way, but she pushed those quiet thoughts aside. "This woman belonged to the Tokubetsu Ninja sect, ninja who have jonin-level capabilities yet excel in a certain area. Clearly, as she was able to find us, hers was tracking." She lifted a foot and, after diverting a little bit of chakra for reinforcement, stomped down on the woman's head. It exploded like a watermelon with gory, wet chunks of brain and skull ricocheting everywhere.

Naruto barely flinched when an eyeball bounced off his cheek leaving a smattering of clear liquid. "Um…." He had no words and so stayed silent.

"We are being hunted. Do you want to die, Naruto?" she asked genially.

The answer was damn simple and he shook his head. "No, I don't."

"Good. It'd be foolish to think that all of this would be accomplished without being noticed. They're being cautious though," explained Kushina, looking up towards the sky and Naruto followed her gaze fruitlessly, unsure of what he was supposed to be seeing, if there was anything at all. "In hindsight, I should have properly disposed of those anbu corpses earlier—"

"What? When did that—?" began Naruto but Kushina was not done talking and continued over him.

"—but then again, it really doesn't matter." She tapped her katana on the ground. "Everyone will perish this night but things must be done in order. We will completely wipe out Konoha's fighting forces, starting with the Anbu, then the Jonin. Everything after that," and she chuckled. "Child's play."

Shaking with eagerness, Naruto wiped the smear of eye fluid from his cheeks, only then noticing that he still held onto the handful of severed tongues. After seeing his mother take down that jonin, they'd been mostly reduced to a pink mush in his grip. He quickly dropped them, wiping the gore over his pants. "Child's play," he repeated, hoping he sounded just as strong as her.

She smiled. "Good."

**XXX**

"What...the _fuck_?"

A purple haired Tokubetsu Jonin dressed in a tan trench coat stared blankly at the body she'd found sitting behind the Hokage's desk. She stared, unsure of what she was seeing and mentally scolded her messed up brain for playing this stupid trick.

_There was just no way._

_Couldn't be._

_Fuck that._

_Stop it, mind._

The image persisted, unmoving, unchanging and Anko grit her teeth to a painful point, her hands curling themselves into fists. Convinced that she'd finally lost her ever loving mind, she marched behind the desk and viciously twirled the chair around causing the body to spin precariously. When the moonlight struck it, illuminating the short silver beard and the bloody bullet-sized hole in the forehead, Anko reared back slapping a hand to her mouth.

_The Hokage...his...his body...he's missing his fucking eyes!_ Nausea was lost on her—she'd seen far worse when under Orochimaru's tutelage—yet the anger came swiftly, so swiftly that she grew lightheaded.

"I...I have to kill something. _Anything_," she ground out, turning to face the section of wall that had been blown away. By what, she hadn't a clue. Probably by the dead bastards who did this.

She had been ordered by Ibiki to scope out the Hokage's chambers with a team of eleven others, but they were all slow and Anko quickly left them in her dust, pouring on the speed that she'd always held back for fear of being sent on missions that kept her from the village. Even now, her teammates had not caught up. She would have found it strange if it weren't for the painful rage wringing her insides; she could barely breathe as every breath felt as though she were inhaling glass.

She turned back towards the Hokage, knowing the proper thing to do would have been to shed tears...but she had none. Outside of allowing her to live once returning from Orochimaru's clutches, he really hadn't done much for her; hell, she was treated on a level that sometimes borderlined Naruto's yet she was old enough and strong enough to defend herself. She took not an ounce of shit.

Even though she couldn't cry, she did make a vow. "I _will_ avenge you, Hokage-dono. I...I don't know who did this to you but...god damn it, what did they do to your eyes?" she yelled, feeling her skin crawl just by looking into his mutilated face. "What? What happened? _Who did this to you?_"

She jerked when something thick and wet dripped down her forehead. Instinctively, she held out her tongue and caught a droplet, confused as to why she tasted bl—

The pain hit her like a brick to the back of head and she dove forward, flipping over the Hokage's desk before spinning to face who had struck her. Her eyes flew back, hardly daring to believe it, and for a moment, she forgot simple speech, left to stand there with her mouth open, the flow of blood growing into a light stream that made a path down her nose.

"You ask who did that? Why, it was a joint effort actually," smiled Orochimaru, twirling a blood-stained purple kunai on his pointing finger. "Don't tell me that after these years apart you've forgotten the scent of my snakes, Anko-han."

Yeah...she'd caught it...caught it the moment she'd entered the room, but with it came a strong sense of denial believing there was no way in hell _he_ could be behind this, that he could go this far….

She attempted non-confrontational speech after his sadistic chuckle but all that came out was a loud, "You _bastard_!" and she took a single step forward, gasping when she hit the ground chin first, unable to move an inch of her body. "Wh...what...is...this?"

"Just a little paralyzing poison making it's way through your system; you'll be as limp as a dishrag, my dear," he drawled. "I'm afraid I stabbed you too hard, might have caused some brain damage, but I'm positive it's nothing I won't be able to fix."

Even if his words were just meant to scare her, Anko believed them and began to shudder where she lay, the pain in her skull throbbing at a tear-inducing rate; it was like somebody had an ice pick and kept wiggling it, digging deeper and deeper—

Orochimaru noticed the look on her face and chortled. "Oh come now, don't vomit, Anko-han," he said, watching as her eyes began to spin, a greenish tinge settling into her elegant face. "True, seeing you covered in your own bile is a dream of mine, it will have to wait. I have chosen you."

"Cho...sen...f-for...for...w-what?" she panted.

Extending an arm out behind towards the whole of the village, Orochimaru smiled, pocketing his special kunai. "Long story short, this village is going to go up in fire. It's an operation heralded by a group I petitioned for you to join at some point—but now that seems wholly superfluous." He laughed. "The leader of this coup has given each member the most generous choice of saving _one_ person from damnation. I have chosen you," he repeated.

Anko vomited, her vision bursting with white sparks as the area in front of her became splattered with remnants of previous meals. God, it hurt...and the stench….

"Such beauty," whispered Orochimaru, and his tongue shot out like a viper, wrapping itself around the woman's midsection before lifting her into the air and dragging her closer. "Your backup isn't coming. I saw to them most efficiently," he informed.

A bit of bile dripped from the corner of Anko's mouth; she was passing out slowly but surely. Her mind was ablaze with questions she wanted answered but her jaw refused to work properly.

"I can tell you have a great many questions," whispered Orochimaru, once again displaying his disturbing talent for reading her like a book, "and answers will come. When you've awoken."

A cold darkness overcame Anko's vision when it felt like her head exploded and she faded….

**XXX**

Naruto was hidden in shadow as demanded by his mother and watched, overcome with awe as she worked wizardry with her katana, slicing and dicing with such precision that at times it looked as though she merely walked by her opponent before they fell apart in grisly clumps.

They'd moved off the rooftops, choosing lower ground to avoid being seen. Didn't matter none as a wave of ninja still found them, a group of trackers. Eyes wondering, Naruto knew this road, it was one he traversed regularly because Ichiraku's Ramen shop happened to be situated on the far end. If only to distract himself from the carnage in front of him, Naruto's mind drifted to one of the customary free bowls of pork ramen he was usually presented with at the end of the day by the store owner and his kind daughter.

A ball of lead fell into his stomach. _This village is going to burn. Everyone will die._ Those were his mother's words. Did that...did that mean...what about Iruka? Sakura? Kiba? He agreed that a majority of the village deserved to be dealt a sword through the heart but...the ones who had helped him, the ones who had actually cared enough to offer consoling words—

_Fuck. Them. All. _

A deranged smile split Naruto's lips and he suddenly dove out of his hiding spot and into the throng of dueling ninja, unsheathing his tanto with such vigor that the blade caught flame automatically; he ran up to his mothers side and put a hand to her hip, pushing her gently out the way as a knife came down attempting to gouge her.

For a split second, Naruto's eyes met the tear-filled ones of the sickly Jonin he knew to be named Gekko Hayate. He saw devastating grief in those eyes, a longing to seek revenge. Revenge for what, though, Naruto didn't know—and he didn't care. He shut his brain off to emotions and wielded his weapon for blood. It was useless to think about those who had only offered a minute sense of help.

_Just what the fuck did Iruka do for me anyway_? he thought viciously, ignoring Gekko as the maddened Jonin rattled on about his dead lover or something. _All he did was buy me ramen on occasion, tell me the same condescending crap that everyone else did...he smiled...he would smile at me but I could see it, I didn't want to but I could see the hate he kept hidden inside. And why shouldn't he hate me? I hold the very thing that killed his parents in my soul…._

Kushina had all but desecrated her fair help of ninja and know stood off to the sidelines, watching with eyes that caught every single movement her child flowed into. He was fighting that sickly Jonin physically yet mentally she could sense the turmoil sloshing around within. He was coming to terms with something, something that brought tears to his eyes. She frowned slightly. That process was always difficult, when you found out that all who you thought gave a damn didn't….

_No one ever cared enough to help me out…._

Naruto ducked a high swipe meant to decapitate him.

_No one bothered to get me out of that apartment or…or to even defend me…._

He switched his tanto to his left hand, balled up his right, and threw a punch so fast his arm blurred; Gekko caught it easily within his own.

_I suffered endlessly...the shops refused to sell me anything, not even food…._

With his hand snared, he leapt up and swung out a leg that Gekko blocked with his other arm.

_I didn't do anything wrong—I DIDN'T DESERVE NONE OF THAT!_

Kushina sported a tender smile when droplets of black liquid fell from Naruto's right eye. With both Gekko's hands occupied, Naruto seized the chance and plunged his enflamed tanto deep into the Jonin's chest. Like a lion on a deer, Naruto took Gekko down, utilizing the very skills that she'd left him in those scrolls. He crouched over Gekko's body, ignoring the way he choked over the fluids filling his lungs, and slashed a jagged line in his throat; ice-cold blood spurted up into Naruto's face and he accepted it with a hollow expression.

_It's not my fault…it's not my fault…I didn't do anything…I'm innocent…I was innocent from the beginning and they still hated me! Still treated me like shit! No more! I WON'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!_

"I see you've reached a sort of epiphany, Naruto," Kushina said over his shoulder and he stood, turning to face her. She sighted how his left eye leaked clear liquid while his right leaked the bitterness of his soul. It was truly a sign of the demons connecting them. "What have you learned?"

Naruto lifted his tanto, watching as blood bubbled on the white-hot blade. "I've learned...that I want to kill them all," he smiled. "Every last one. Oldest to smallest, I want to them all to bleed."

She nodded. "Good. I was prepared to knock you out if you hadn't reached that decision with all your heart," she revealed to Naruto's laugh. It was such a sweet sound and her ears delighted in hearing it. If at all possible, she would love to hear it every single day as a tribute to all that she had accomplished.

A pitch-black crow came swooping down upon them, encircling Kushina and releasing a torrent of black feathers as before. She knew what was happening but smiled when Naruto rushed forward urgently. "It's okay, son," she said. "It's only another member of our new family."

Still looking dubious, Naruto watched as a man emerged from the blackness, a man taller than him with onyx eyes that struck him cold. He quickly crossed to his mothers side, gripping a handful of her shirt protectively, his tanto slightly raised in the other. "W-who are you?"

Itachi blinked down at the little blonde-haired boy, bypassing the black tear streaks, then swept the road with one glance. It was littered with bodies, mangled corpses ranging from civilian all the way up to anbu. "Breathtaking work, Ku—" he started, but Naruto suddenly yelled,

"Hey! I said who _are_ you! Don't just ignore me!"

"Naruto"—and Kushina paused, not sure at first what to say, but then a phrase appeared, one her own mother used to say—"watch your manners."

To this, Naruto calmed himself and lowered his weapon, though the scowl still remained. "Sorry. But still, who are you?"

"Itachi Uchiha."

The first name didn't register with Naruto at all yet his jaw dropped at the last name. Kushina knew her child was by no means the 'idiot' the village people claimed him to be and watched as he put several puzzle pieces together.

"Uchiha...Sasuke..._holy sh_—" Naruto suddenly caught himself, wondering why it felt wrong to swear in front of his mom. He didn't understand it but nevertheless heeded it. "You're that guy...you're Sasuke's brother! You're the one he wants to kill!"

Itachi took that easily, going against his first instinct to strike the blonde. "The very same."

"Alright, then that quite naturally leads to my next question," and Naruto lifted his weapon, pointing it at the Uchiha. "How the heck do you know my mom?"

"Because he is my lover," Kushina spoke.

Naruto's heart stopped. "Gurk!"

"I am kidding, Naruto," she said as her child began to spasm on the spot, thudding himself on the chest. "It was a joke. That's how they're told, right? I thought jokes made people, uh..._happy,_ and I wanted to see you laugh. Why are you not laughing?"

"I wasn't aware that you had a sense of humor, Ku-sensei," Itachi remarked as stoically as ever, unruffled.

The strange part was...neither did she. In all her years since being brought back from death's embrace she had never so much as smiled, let alone cracked a joke. Yet...being in such close proximity with her child...what _were_ these vexing feelings? So warm, so tingly….She was used to the cold grit of life, it was what had formed her into the perfect warrior.

All other emotions were nonessential.

And subsequently killed.

"Are you ready, Itachi?" she questioned, that monotone voice returning. "Is your job done?"

"Yes, Ku-sensei. All drones have been eliminated, as have their families. On my way here I noted a massive squad forming. They know where we are."

Kushina nodded, pulling out her special crimson kunai. "Itachi, Naruto, grab onto me." Without question, Itachi placed a hand on her shoulder and Naruto took hold of her shirt again. "We're going for a little free-fall."

And she reared back her hand, pumped as much chakra as she could call upon into her arm, and let it go; it was quickly just a glint in the dark sky. Kushina blared her chakra and, along with the sudden rush of wind blowing through her hair, she heard Naruto gasp in pure wonder.

They were suddenly hundreds of feet above Konoha which looked nothing short of a labyrinth made of crisscrossing roads, alleys, and backends; some particular parts looked as though drenched in red paint, their obvious handiwork. Spiritually vindicated somewhat by the scene, Kushina fanned her arms out as they began to fall, firming her body so the wind's fierce sting wouldn't throw her off too badly.

"They're coming to meet us!" she called out over the deafening roar. "Ready yourselves!"

Silently, both Itachi and Naruto nodded, the former pulling out a black kunai while the latter pulled out his tanto. Kushina reacted in kind, snatching her kunai from the air and switching to her katana.

"I only got one question!" Naruto yelled. "Why are we in the sky?"

"Because," Itachi answered and despite the softness of his tone and the rushing winds, Naruto heard him clear as day, "_we're going to make it rain blood_."

And then they were surrounded, the peaceful dark-blues of the night interrupted by a sudden cloud of green-vested ninja, each of them wielding a variety of weaponry that ranged from swords to sickles; with them came an almost suffocating wave of killing force, one so heavy that the very air began to crackle.

Kushina reached out and took hold of Naruto's shirt, dragging him into her. "Stay close, son," she muttered. "I've not done all of this to lose you now."

Naruto beamed. It felt really good being protected for once in his life. "And I haven't survived this far to go down now!"

"LAY DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER!" boomed one of the captains. "YOU'RE WANTED FOR THE MURDER OF OVER SIXTY SHINOBI OF THE VILLAGE HIDDEN IN LEAF!" He lifted his weapon, a single kunai. "YOUR PUNISHMENT IS DEATH!"

Kushina locked eyes with the captain, remembering him instantly. Such a fine ninja he was, one who excelled in the area of interrogation. Still, she had no words for him and hardened her gaze causing a unified shudder to run throughout the cloud of ninja. "Come then, Ibiki!"

**XXX**

Standing on the Hokage monument, Sakumo's gaze was skyward. He could see three bodies of different colors—from crimson, to black, to yellow—being all but devoured by a cloud of green-vested shinobi. They were fighting fluidly, their movements unhampered by the wind even though it was clear the other ninja were having trouble keeping grip of their weapons.

For a moment, Sakumo allowed himself to marvel at Naruto. This kind of combat was expected of Kushina and Itachi, but for Naruto...how? He stuck close to his mothers side, protecting her left flank quite expertly, though Saumo did notice that the weaker ninja gravitated towards him while the heavy-hitters like Ibiki and Ebisu surrounded Kushina and Itachi.

Plit….Plit….Plit….

Sakumo blinked when a drop of blood struck him on the cheek. As he reached up to wipe it away he began to see several shinobi go limp, their lifeless bodies falling away from the group. As the seconds passed, Sakumo gave up on wiping his face clear as a downpour of blood colder than the surrounding night struck the area, raining down over the Hokage monument and a good majority of the houses beyond it.

Sakumo closed his eyes—then immediately dove to the side as a blur of blue lightning rushed past. He skidded to a halt over the second Hokage's head and faced his stealthy attacker.

"Ah…Kakashi," he smirked.

The legendary Copycat Ninja stood opposite him, his silver hair streaked with blood causing it to hang limply. His face, dotted with the blood of his fallen comrades, was half-covered by his mask yet there was a terrible rage within his eyes. Both of them were revealed, the right containing his equally acclaimed Sharingan, and both of them were aimed right at Sakumo.

"Kakashi—" Sakumo started, but Kakashi's chakra came to life with a thundering boom that ruptured the ground, sending a splintering crack down the middle of Hiruzen's face.

"You bear a striking resemblance to my father," Kakashi whispered darkly, lifting a hand to face-level. With the sound of chirping birds, it sparked with a ball of condensed lightning. Droplets of blood fizzled upon contact. "Was it you who killed the Hokage?"

Sakumo faced his child with the utmost seriousness. "Would an explanation help matters?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No. It's raining with the blood of my comrades. It's past the time for chatter and it's taking all of my power not to rush right now. I'll ask once more: did you...kill the...Hokage?"

"Yes."

A severed arm hit the fell between them and in the split-second that Sakumo's vision was obscured, Kakashi vanished—

"_Chidori. One thousand birds._"

"_Raiton!_"

Sakumo's left hand erupted in electricity; he felt Kakashi's presence from above and threw his arm up, his jutsu colliding with Kakashi's with such force that the both of them were blown in opposite directions. Sakumo remained on his feet and wasn't surprised when he looked up to see Kakashi already charging another _Chidori_. They were both ninja of the highest talent, well known through all five hidden villages.

This was not a fight they were both going to walk away from if it continued.

"Kakashi!" he called over the thudding of body parts raining from the sky. "Son, we don't have to do this! Let me explain!"

"If you explain I might be calmed," retorted Kakashi, sounding oddly passive. "I don't want a reason to forgive you or see things your way. My friends are in pieces all around this village. Gekko...Yugao...Tekuno...Hamaki…all good friends and drinking buddies that I'll never be able to enjoy sake with again. Just once...the copy-ninja of lore is about to let loose. If we both survive, then you can say whatever you have to say and I'll listen with open ears. Until then…."

He broke off, a line of tears leaking from his normal eye as he stared between his sodden bangs at the man his heart confirmed to be his father. Anger trumped all of his questions. Perhaps it blinded him, perhaps this man named Sakumo had good reason for all the deaths of his friends...Kakashi could freely acknowledge the high possibility of all those instances just as easily as he chose to ignore them.

"Son, _please_—"

"Right now, I'm not your son. Right now, I'm your opponent and you _will_ fight me or you'll die without ever getting a chance to explain yourself."

A terrible pain tore open behind Sakumo's chest and he gripped at his heart. He doubled over coughing, expelling a mouthful of scarlet liquid that was far thicker than blood; it clung nastily to his tongue before dripping off. He wiped his bottom lip and struggled to stand straight.

He didn't have much time left.

_Fuck_. He eyed his child warily, paused for a moment, then steeled himself. Kakashi wanted to fight...then...then he would listen...that's what he said…and then he would listen with...w-with open ears….

Amidst a downpour of blood and rendered clumps of flesh, Sakumo extended his arms out on either side. "_Raiton_." Lighting raced from his shoulders down to his fingers tips. He snarled as the anguish pitched; vomit rushed up but he kept it down, determined to give his son what he wanted because…because deep within, Sakumo knew this was what he wanted most, to have an all-out bout with his child.

Even if it became his last.

**XXX**

A/N: No preview as I don't want another mishap.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Kushina's one joke had about the effect I hoped it would. Funny? I sure as hell thought so. Just a little poke to all those who were confused, glad, or angry over the whole romance thing.

** Mastur Cheef**: Good questions, hope you like the answers.

Thank you all for the reviews, keep 'em coming.

Chapter 7: Down

**XXX**

The thick cloud of ninja had all but been reduced down to the stragglers, the ones strong enough—or perhaps lucky enough—to hold their own against the titans belonging to the Z.N.O. To their merit, Kushina offered a small nod that no one saw as she locked her sword against Ibiki's kunai. The both of them had virtually been cut to bits, though Ibiki's wounds were far graver and more profound whereas Kushina had only suffered little nicks and scratches from lax reflexes. On her right, Itachi had yet to be touched as he dueled Ebisu, the renowned tutor who, surprisingly, had more mettle than his appearance let on. To her left, sticking close like the duckling he was, Naruto had nobody left to fight and thus directed his attention below them with one hand gripping his mother's shirt.

"Momma!" he called into the wind.

"Yes, child," she responded evenly despite clashing repeatedly against her opponent.

Naruto jammed a finger towards the approaching ground, struggling to keep his eyes open against the wind. "Who's that white-haired dude fighting Kaka-sensei?"

Kushina didn't need to look to figure it out. "That would be Sakumo, Kakashi's father. He's part of our family. You can consider him your uncle."

"He's on the ground, mom!" Naruto suddenly yelled and it was the urgency in his voice that propelled Kushina against her instincts to look down, her eyes widening when she saw that Sakumo was indeed on his knees, one hand to his chest as he expelled a disturbing amount of crimson fluids.

_That...can't be...why is he_—Her train of thought suddenly flashed back to moments before this operation began, to when Sakumo had been coughing and telling her everything was fine. How could she not have seen it? He hadn't been in for his transfusion and she'd been so concentrated on planning out every little detail that she overlooked his health!

_Damn it!_

A kunai skated over Kushina's cheek tearing it just enough to allow a few droplets of blood to escape. She faced Ibiki with a tight scowl.

"Eyes on the opponent, Kushina," the interrogator growled, his black duster fanning out above him. "I don't know how you managed to avoid death, but I'm about to send you to Minato's side."

Those words caused Kushina's eyes to widen with pure fury—she'd only prepared herself to deal the finishing blow when Naruto suddenly flipped mid-air, placing his feet against her side—

"Naruto! What're you do—?" she started but the blonde kicked-off hard, blowing her out of alignment as he sped towards the ground with all the speed of a bullet. Spinning through the air uncontrollably, Kushina caught sight of Kakashi sprinting towards the downed Sakumo, his right hand crackling with his legendary _Chidori_—she then saw the look of determination prominent over Naruto's face and instantly put the scene together with chilling realization. "NO!"

Naruto threw his hands together in a sign. "_Kagebunshin no Jutsu!_"

Kushina pulled out her special kunai and flung her arm back so hard that she nearly dislocated it—

A clone of Naruto appeared seconds before he crashed to the ground; they collided, the fake dispelling upon impact while the regular Naruto rolled to his feet, dashing towards Sakumo, beating Kakashi by the hair of his teeth—

"MAKE IT!" Kushina roared and she loosed her kunai.

Naruto skidded to a halt in front of Sakumo, arms thrown out protectively—"NOT MY UNCLE!" he yelled.

Seeing who had jumped in the way, Kakashi's eyes widened but he was too close to pull away or dispel his jutsu—

A crimson kunai struck the patch of earth between Naruto and Kakashi and an instant later Kushina appeared—

"MOM!"

"KUSHINA!"

Blood spurted into the air and a horrible silence fell over the Hokage monument...

**XXX**


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Warning, warning, warning: **severe gore**. Prepare to be pissed off. Enjoy.

** Shadow Ninja**: Drats...you guessed it….

** Mastur Cheef:** Tone down my story…? No, never. Little fun fact: each of these chapters is already toned down from the previous version. Besides that, there's no sex so it should be fine and even if it is too much, oh well. I'll email it to those who want to read the ending or something.

Chapter 8: Hush Now, Quite Now

**XXX**

"Why are we doing this? Did I miss something?"

"Hey, no one said you had to come—take your lazy ass back home then."

"I'm already up now, no thanks to you guys. It'd be troublesome to turn back after coming this far…."

"Alright then, shut up and follow!"

In the dead of night, five genin quietly ascended the stairs that led to the top of Hokage monument. The one out in front was Ino, always the leader, with Shikamaru at her back, Kiba behind him, Hinata clinging to his arm, and Chouji brought up the rear. All of them had been roused from their sleep early in the night by their parents who, in a move that only served to pique their curiosity, ordered them to stay in bed while they leapt into the dark sky to handle an emergency summons by the council of Konoha.

Being the talented ninja that many of the main clans bore, it didn't take long for an organized group to form. The few not present where the ones under heavy guard, or the ones who were just too law-abiding to come outside (i.e Sakura).

Even though he complained, Shikamaru couldn't deny that he wanted to find out what was so important that both his parents had to be called away. It was one thing for his father but his mother too? She hadn't been called to duty for quite some time….

_And that's when I knew shit was about to hit the fan_.

As they climbed, Kiba expressing his joy to be out and about, Shikamaru looked down at the steps, noting with a quirked eyebrow the thick layer of red liquid coating them.

"Um...does nobody else but me see this? This blood?" he wondered pointing down.

"Oh that's what that smell is," Kiba said with a groan, slapping a hand to his highly sensitive nose. "Jeez, man, what's going on up there?"

"I don't know...but I get the feeling it's not worth the trouble." With a sigh, Shikamaru overtook Ino, saying to her curious face, "I'll lead. No offense but women aren't really known for their tracking. Especially blondes."

While Ino went on a hushed, indignant barrage, Shikamaru kept his gaze forward, his mind abuzz with hundreds of possible reasons for this river of blood they seemed to be climbing up.

"Hinata, you're—_ow_! Girl watch that grip! That was my _skin_!" Kiba whispered and the little Hyuuga blushed.

"O-oh! I'm s-s-sorry," she stammered, refusing even after to loosen her hold; if anything, she tightened it and Kiba bared his teeth in silence, deciding to just deal with it for her sake.

It soon got to the point where the five of them were slipping and sliding as they climbed, sometimes stumbling and falling completely only to have the entire group pause to help that person to their feet. Ino had already face-planted three times and it took Kiba to restrain her from running home to clean herself.

"We're almost there!" he raged, holding the thrashing blonde girl by the waist. "C'mon! Quit playin' around and climb!"

Not ten seconds later, he'd tripped as well, his chin thudding painfully on the stone stairs. "Ah, _fuck_ that hurts." He quickly picked himself up without help, holding a hand to his chin as a trail of blood dribbled over his bottom lip. "Ooooww, bit muh tongue…."

Shikamaru made a taught shushing noise as they came to a halt under a horizontal latch that led to the outside. In morbid silence, they watched as streams of blood fell through cracks in the wood; it made them huddle together to avoid being splattered.

"What...I...I d-don't underst-st-stand," whispered Hinata positively shaking, her clear eyes widening in horror.

"Just...just think of it as cherry kool-aid," suggested Chouji meekly.

Steeling himself, Shikamaru put a hand on the locking hatch and prepared to undo it when someone gripped him by the forearm. He looked back into Kiba's face; the dog boy looked unnaturally solemn, scarily so with his nose flared and ears perked up.

"There's...I can't explain it but there are some serious dogs up there," he explained slowly. "We're just pups, man, we shouldn't interfere with alpha stuff like that…."

Shikamaru offered him a shaky grin. "Troublesome though it is, we'll all be alphas soon enough. If we can't even handle this then I don't think we're worthy of taking over as alphas of our clan, or of our own little pups when the time comes."

Using dog analogy seemed to calm Kiba somewhat, enough to let go at least. Shikamaru turned to Chouji and received a swift nod from the plump genin. Exhaling to steady his nerves, Shikamaru twisted the lock and pushed up.

A deluge of blood came rushing over them like a waterfall; Ino had just opened her mouth to scream when Kiba slapped a hand over it. As the torrent passed, Chouji lifted Hinata into his arms, his cheeks shining even through the secretion coating him when the little Hyuuga wrapped her arms around his neck.

Wiping fluids from his eyes and struggling to keep his own composure, Shikamaru looked up, only catching a glimpse of the night sky before something fell through the opening and thudded him over the head. It hit the ground and every pair of eyes fell upon it.

"Holy shit…it's...that's an arm," Kiba uttered, more perplexed than disgusted. His hold over Ino's mouth increased when she tried screamed, the sound muffled. He turned to face her. "Look here, blondie, I don't know what kind of way you wanna die but kept screamin' like some whipped pup and you'll give away our position! I don't wanna die just yet so you best hide that shit! You're a ninja ain't you?"

The look in Ino's eyes was one of intense fear yet it slowly settled into manageable panic as the bloodflow overhead lessened. Sporting a fanged grin, Kiba nodded and removed his hand. "There we go," he said looking to Shikamaru. "Go on, dude. We're all right behind you."

Those words comforted the lazy genin and he climbed out, his nose instantly cringing at the tart stench of rancid blood; it crashed into him almost physically and he shuddered in the breezy night air. A sudden howl of pain caught his attention and his head snapped up, taking in a scene that stilled his heart—

Next to him came a yell so piercingly loud that if Shikamaru hadn't seen her he'd have never thought the Hyuuga heiress capable of such a dreadful noise.

**XXX**

Kushina stood frozen, a teeth-clenching pain rocketing up from a point in her stomach all the way up to her brain. Strangely, as she opened her eyes, what she saw wasn't the haunting darkness of death come to claim her as she'd expected.

No. What she saw was her little blonde-haired bundle of energy standing before her, his lips quirked up in a bloody grin even as Kakashi's hand extended through his chest, the tips of his fingers barely scrapping Kushina's front.

At that moment, Kushina's brain died, just shut off completely as somebody, a child, yelled in the distance. What was she seeing? What...what had happened?

Looking shocked beyond reason, Kakashi quickly withdrew his crimson colored arm, leaving a gaping hole through the boy that gushed fluid like a punctured water balloon; it splashed to the ground and he wavered.

"M...momma...it...d-don't," Naruto gasped, his breathing quickly growing haggard. He took a step forward and stumbled into Kushina who reached out arms instinctually, catching him and lowering him down slowly. "I...it h-hurts," he gurgled, still smiling, and the color was fast fading from his boyish face, "b-but...you...you came back f-for m...for me…."

Controlling his fit, Sakumo dove for Naruto's other side as Ibiki, Itachi, and Ebisu thudded down to the blood-drenched earth. "Naruto? Naruto—wait, hold on—we can—"

But Naruto was crying now, tears freely falling as he reached up with a hand that touched Kushina's cheek. He gasped, shuddering as he tried to speak. "I'm g-glad I...that you came to m-me, momma...glad I w-wasn't alone…I f-forgive you for being late..." He gurgled blood, his eyes closing. "I...I love you."

And he fell limp in Kushina's arms.

Several people were suddenly talking, screaming, yelling—but Kushina heard none of it. She saw nothing, acknowledged nothing except the child in her arms. The child that she had risked all for. The child that she'd go to hell and back for. The child that she loved and cherished. The child that was now gone….

Sakumo was yelling, first at Naruto then he got to his feet, turned to Kakashi, and began shouting something that sounded like a low buzz. Kakashi looked irrevocably stunned by what he had done. Like a shadow, Itachi was next to Kushina, reaching to lay the boy down with all the tenderness of handling a newly born.

Children. Five of them were suddenly in the area despite Ebisu's yelling. They crowded Naruto's body in a circle, each of them shaking him, yelling at him to wake up. The pale-eyed Hyuuga girl cried the hardest and screamed the loudest.

"NARUTO!"

"Oh my God—Naruto, what—open your eyes!"

"Damn it, no! C'mon man! Don't—don't do this! You can't die!"

Kushina stood. A mere tremble shook her entire body. And then she screamed. It was more of an unholy roar than anything and infiltrated the village below them causing nearly every house light to turn on; doors opened, people walked out in fear and confusion—

"KUSHINA!" Sakumo called as the wind began to swirl. "Kushina, don't do this! Ple—" He doubled over gagging, clutching his stomach. His vision was blurring and feeling was leaving his body. "Damn it, not yet, not yet!"

The cry to signal the village's end was cut short when something thudded into Kushina's back; an instant later, a strip of silver metal exited a point just to the right of her stomach. She stared down at the blade sticking out of her, at the blood seeping into her shirt.

"I said I would send you to Minato," Ibiki growled from behind. "_You and your demon ch—_"

Kushina took three steps forward, sliding off the blade before turning, stunning everyone by the trails of black liquid escaping her eyes. Her face was hollow, not a single emotion to be found.

"You wanted my child dead," she spoke, and she walked again, impaling herself purposefully on the blade a second time until she was face to face with Ibiki who was too frozen to let go, "why? All he ever did was smile...and laugh...and play. He was a normal boy."

And now her face scrunched up with a painful loss.

"_He was my baby_."

Shikamaru screamed and fell back with the others when chains burst up from the ground, four of them; they each took Ibiki by a separate limb—

"_Shit!"_ Kiba leapt on Ino and Hinata, covering their faces as the interrogator was torn into scarlet chunks.

Piles of torn entrails splattered to the ground before Kushina and she hung her head, shoulders trembling as her chains flung the pieces clear into the village. The dismembered torso still bore Ibiki's head, which continued to scream in agony, unaware that it was spurting blood at an alarming rate.

"M-my child," Kushina cried, and on an unspoken order, her chains lifted the torso and began tearing it into smaller nuggets of flesh—

Chouji vomited; Shikamaru could feel his bladder releasing but one thought prevailed in his mind. _Escape! Run away! This woman was a demon from hell!_

Terrified, Ebisu made the first move, turning to vanish when a chain burst from the ground underneath his feet and pierced him through the stomach. It quickly coiled around his spine—"AGH!"—before ripping a large chunk of it out.

Pale-faced and trembling, Shikamaru watched as long, bloody ropes he knew to be intestines poured from the hole left in Eibsu's front; a second later, his body bent backward like some obscene puppet cut from its strings. He couldn't hold it in any further and screamed as tears of terror curved his cheeks.

With her back to them, Kushina rubbed at her eyes, leaving black smears over her cheeks and the back of her hand. She heard a thud from behind and automatically knew Sakumo had collapsed when she heard Itachi and Kakashi yell. Kakashi...he should die...before everyone else….

Even as the thought crossed her mind, Kunshina gasped as one of her chains pulled the sword from her midsection. She could feel warm blood trickling down her sides—damn that Ibiki...he'd struck something vital...the pain was intense yet her sorrow hurt worse than what any blade could do….

Itachi stared at Sakumo rasping on the ground with a type of emotion he hadn't experienced for years: _dread_. He didn't know what to do—this hadn't been in the plans at all. He looked up towards Kushina, wanting desperately to know what the next course of action was when he saw her falling over the edge, her beautiful crimson hair fanning out around her—

"KU-SENSEI!"

She heard him calling out to her but could do nothing as her entire body had gone numb. She fell like a lead weight, her thoughts muddled, when something caught her in a soft embrace. Through the darkness overtaking her vision, she beheld a pasty-white face set with snake-like yellow eyes. He was...frowning….

"Oh, Kuku," and when he spoke there was a sincere note of grief in his voice, "what happened…?"

She managed to utter his name—"little F-Fang"—before everything turned black.

**XXX**

A/N: One. More. Chapter. Left. Finally, the end is near. Who will live and who will die? Will Kushina recover? What about the rest of Z.N.O? All will be answered (or maybe not) in the last chapter of 'A Mother's Sword: Devil's Analogy'. R&R.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: All journeys have to end.

Chapter 9: Mission...Failed

**XXX**

"Untie me! Damn it, Itachi you bastard, I _said_ untie—"

"Hey, kid...shut up."

"And who the hell are you to tell me what to do? The resident snake whore—shut your mouth and think twice before addressing me!"

A terrifying rictus split Anko's face and she slowly turned to face the Uchiha; the two of them were regrettably strapped to the same tree, pathetically being withheld by a length of twine. After being stabbed with whatever the fuck was on Orochimaru's blade, she had no strength, which was a pity as she very much wanted to throttle the little raven-haired shit barking like a mad dog next to her.

Far in the distance, she saw a cluster of people, including her backstabbing sensei, laying down a woman with red hair—

"Hey! Snake bitch! Help me get out of here!"

"Boy, if you don't shut the _fuck_ up—"

**XXX**

Kushina had regained consciousness. She wished she hadn't, though. What was the point…? Everything had been lost….The plan was gone, their element of surprise was gone, Naruto was g—

A spike of pain stabbed her in the side and her vision returned with a spark; everything was drowned out in white...then it faded as the pain ebbed away allowing her to see bunches of dark sky between the tree's thick foliage. The air was cool and musky, almost earthen and she knew she was in the forest. Someone blurry hovered over her; a second later, her vision straightened and Kakashi's face appeared, tear-streaked.

The most powerful rage took hold of Kushina's skewered body and her hand shot out, clenching tight around the Jonin's neck. A look of fury flashed over her face—it lasted for only a second—before her strength waned and she released him, watching with tired, slitted eyes as he fell back coughing and clutching his throat.

No sooner had he fallen back was Itachi in his place. Kushina's look of silent scorn melted into a tender smile at the sight of distress lining the elder Uchiha's usually stoic face.

"Ku-sensei," he started, his voice as strong as ever, "Sakumo...he's...he's dead."

Before the last word fell from Itachi's mouth she was already crying, wholly confused as to why she had refrained from such a thing for so long. It hurt so bad, like her very soul was being rendered and yet...she felt so light...so free….

"I told that fool to let me take him back to the lab," whispered Orochimaru, down on one knee at her other side. "But he wouldn't listen…."

There were no words within Kushina so she lay there in the soft bed of grass, her blood oozing out from underneath, soaking into the ground. No one was attempting to perform any type of healing jutsu and for that, she mentally thanked them. There was no escaping it this time—death had long since been overdue a soul and futile attempts such as trying to prolong her waning life would only serve to anger the unyielding forces of nature.

She was going to die.

"My father wanted to apologize," Kakashi got haggardly, still soothing his throat as he climbed to his feet. He stared down at Kushina with barely controlled contempt. "He said...that he was sorry he couldn't stop you in time, before things got out of hand."

All of a sudden, Kushina's vision was blurry again with tears and she was gasping, struggling to hold onto what little life remained within her long enough to hear Kakashi's words. Why would Sakumo want to stop her? They had all agreed on what was supposed to happen tonight….

Kakashi tried twice to speak, only uttering the weakest of sounds before he put a hand to his face, shivering as sobs racked his body. "G-Goddamn it…."

Orochimaru spared the copy-nin a look of commiseration before turning to Kushina, who was stunned at the clear liquid gathering in the corner of his merciless eyes. "Kakashi only breathes because Sakumo wants him to live. He says the pain of killing his own student should be enough of a punishment."

Kakashi said nothing.

"I must say...this did not go at _all_ the way I planned," sighed Orochimaru tragically, falling back against a tree. He slid down in a slump. "One of our members is dead because he wanted to tell you to forgive the villagers."

It was through sheer willpower that Kushina managed to snarl out, "_Never_," trickles of blood escaping her mouth.

"Yeah, I told him you would say that. He apparently felt that we had no right murdering innocent people. He said the Hokage fucked us up...not the men, women and children of Konoha. Handling Hiruzen should have been the end of it, he said." The wind picked up blowing Orochimaru's bangs to obscure his eyes; a moment later, even Itachi looked stunned at the drop of water that ran down his hollow cheeks. "I, personally, wanted the whole village to burn...but _he_ said we should have just disappeared after taking out Hiruzen. We existed as Z.N.O to _protect_ the people, not murder them. We only wanted justice for the way we'd been treated...we're not bad people, he said...we...we were just angry…."

Kushina could hear voices arguing in the background now. It sounded like a child and a woman. By the tones...Sasuke...and Anko—was she Orochimaru's one pick? She wanted to laugh but only coughed. One pick...like any of that mattered. As the blood underneath her turned almost painfully frigid, she allowed Sakumo's words to wash over her. Yeah...that sounded like something he would say...something incredibly stupid to try and spoil her fun….

A voice sounded from deep within her head. "_Was it really fun, Ku-chan? __You're smarter than all of this so don't go thinking you were a bad person. You acted as any parent would who saw their child being mistreated._" The voice chuckled warmly; Kushina smiled. "_Well, maybe you went a little overboard. But you tried. Your heart was in the right place…._"

She wanted desperately to believe those words but a picture of Naruto's laughing face swam before her eyes, blocking out the sky, and the tears came again. Her child was dead...because she got him involved.

_It's my fault. My fault. MY FAU—_

"_Ku-chan! Focus!"_ roared the voice suddenly and she jerked, gasping in pain. Itachi took her hand in his, grasping tightly. The voice spoke again with a softer tone. "_Speak it, Ku-chan. What do you want right now? You know...so speak it!"_

Squeezing Itachi's hand back, Kushina began to open cry, her hard wrought shell finally breaking free as the sobs escaped. Her sudden breakdown brought out Itachi's tears and Orochimaru let his head fall forward, his shoulders trembling.

"I...I want to see Naruto again!" she said as her vision began to fade. "That's...I'm sorry! I'm sorry for all of this! All I w-want is to see my baby again...that's all…."

The voice of Sakumo, so soothing and light, chuckled again. "_It's about time_."

**XXX**

_Thump._

"...push…!"

_Thump._

"...has to do something…."

_Thump_.

"Don't give up!"

_Thu—_

Naruto sat up bolt right, inhaling with all the force of a man born anew. All at once, pain hit him in the chest and he reached up, not at all surprised to find that his finger brushed pure untouched skin. For what seemed like forever he'd been down in the sewer-like piece of his mind that held the fox, yelling his throat virtually bloody as he screamed out for help. He couldn't explain it but he could _feel_ it...his mother was crying—she was in pain. The holes punched through him had only closed a few seconds ago but Naruto refused to wait until he was fully healed

"She's calling me!" he yelled out without meaning to and a second later, five pairs of arms were gripping him from all angles.

"Naruto!" Hinata yelled, gushing uncontrollably as she squeezed his head into her chest. "You're alive! You came back to us! I never gave up—"

"Oh shit, man, don't scare us like that!" Kiba said simultaneously laughing and crying as he patted the blonde over his back. "We got too many pranks to pull on this village for you to kick off now!"

"You idiot!" Ino raged, wiping her eyes furiously. "I—I—how _dare _you put me through that!"

Chouji had his face buried in the crook of his arm, sobbing mainly out of relief while Shikamaru slapped Naruto over the face. "GO!" he suddenly yelled and his voice brought silence.

"Ow! What the hell—" Naruto started but Shikamaru was on his feet, dragging the blonde up as well.

"She's hurt! You called that crazy ass red-haired lady your mom, right?" Shikamaru asked and Naruto nodded numbly. "Look, I don't know what just happened—how you came back, why your mom killed all those people—but you need to go to her!" Shikamaru's voice was strangely focused even as he shuddered, a mental mess of tears covered in the blood of others. "That interrogator Ibiki stabbed her and—"

"WHAT?" Naruto roared.

Before Shikamaru could respond several shadows fell upon them and they all looked up to see a contingent of no less than fifty ninja falling down towards their position. Of them, Shikamaru could clearly make out his parents, Ino's, Hinata's—all of them were coming down with the force of a rocket.

"Go NOW!" and the shadow nin slapped his hands together in a fast series of signs. "_Kagemuchi no Jutsu_!" A strand of darkness leapt from Shikamaru's shadow and wrapped itself around his ankle. "For the hell we're about to catch for this, you'd better find her!"

And suddenly, the other four genin were in motion, each grabbing Naruto and pulling him back like he was in a slingshot.

"Dude, we are _soooo_ gonna get our asses busted for this!" Kiba laughed as they pulled until the string of shadow was taught. "But who cares! Get to your mom, man!"

"But come back!" Hinata yelled.

"NOW!" Shikamaru called and they let go—

The last glimpse Naruto caught was of dozens of ninja landing on the Hokage monument—some yelling to stop him, others rushing in—before he was hurled over the cliff's edge and towards the forest. As he flew, he closed his eyes and felt out the bit of his mother's chakra he'd ingested.

_Got it_. Moments before he crashed into a tree, Naruto parted his eyelids and beheld an almost ethereal trail of red chakra; it snaked its way deep into the forest yet he knew where it led.

_Momma,_ he thought, landing on a branch; he launched himself forward at lighting speed. _I'm coming. Thanks to my...my friends, I'm coming!_

**XXX**

Seconds after Kushina's vision withered and her eyes lost their crimson color, she felt something land next to her, splashing in the puddle of blood, and heard a torrent of gasps escape into the night air. Droplets of water fell onto her face and she heard crying—

"MOMMA! Momma, wait—what's wrong? I'm here, see? I'm back!"

She smiled when he took her by the shoulder, shaking her delicately. "I'm sorry, son, but I've l-lost my sight," she explained.

Her words forced a horrified gasp out of Naruto. "What? I don't—why? Isn't there someone here who can help? You, Itachi, do something!"

While Itachi explained the dismal situation, Kushina devoted one section of her brain towards trying to figure out if this were real or a hallucination brought on by the trauma. How was Naruto right beside her when just a short while ago he'd been—?

"_He has the Nine-Tails within him, Ku-chan_," Sakumo said patiently. "_Or did you forget that? As the previous holder of the fox, you should know how difficult a jinchuuriki is to kill. Anything short of destroying the heart or decapitation is a waste of time."_

_Ah, yes. Of course. But...he had died, his heart had stopped…._

"_His friends revived him."_

_What…? Friends? He...he doesn't—_

"_This village may be corrupted...but there are indeed a shining few who save it from purgatory, Ku-chan. The chakra lost upon Naruto's 'death' was too great; the Nine-Tails was forced to use what his friends poured into the host body to heal itself. Most of it came from the Hyuuga heiress—I'm honestly shocked she was able to stand afterwards."_

_Oh...so he had friends after all…._

"Momma, hold on! My friends helped me get back to you! I'm not alone anymore!" she heard her child yell almost ecstatically. "See? We—we don't need to destroy the village anymore! It's...it's not all bad! I was just angry and wasn't thinking!"

"_Even he realizes it, Ku-chan_. _This village can be turned._"

Mustering a smile, Kushina lifted her hand, reaching around blindly until her fingers brushed those adorable whiskers on Naruto's cheeks. "I'm...h-happy for you, son…."

"Yeah, yeah, and you'll be able to meet them! When you get better you can meet all of them!" he exclaimed.

"That's not going to happen," came Orochimaru's sodden voice.

"SHUT UP!" and Naruto's unfiltered hatred blared into the surrounding woods causing several birds to take flight. "You don't know nothing! She's gonna be alright, she's gonna—"

Kushina suddenly gurgled up blood and Naruto fell silent. Every noise died. She felt him put a hand to hers, nuzzling into her touch.

"Momma, no...you p-promised me. This...this isn't _fair_! You promised you'd never leave me!"

"Technically," Kushina rasped, her breathing beginning to slow, "y-you broke it first…."

Naruto let slip a choked laugh. "This...this isn't the t-time for jokes."

"But I m-made you laugh," she whispered, the realization of that accomplishment easing the biggest of her worries. The darkness around her was paramount and she was scared to let go but hearing that one melodious sound banished all of her fears. "I...I made you laugh…."

Silence.

"Mom…?"

"Ku-sensei?"

"Kuku?"

Silence.

"Momma—no—please, say something!" Naruto shook a hand that had no feeling. "Momma? _Momma_? Momma! You promised me!"

She _had_ promised, yet she could not move or speak, only able to form thoughts.

_I'm sorry, Naruto...I'm so sorry._

"_Come, Ku-chan. You can't stay here. Neither of us can."_

_But where...where do we go now?_

"_Well, I'm going to finally rest. You, Ku-chan, have another meeting ahead."_

_But Naruto, he's hurting...crying...I need to help him._

Sakumo's voice was growing dim. _"That choice is lost to you, Ku-chan. You must go on. Your journey is not yet over."_

_Why can't I stay with my child? I don't understand!_

"_You will soon. Farewell...little Tomato."_

The feel of warm lips on her cheeks stabilized Kushina's heartbeat long enough for her to hear Naruto whisper, "G-goodnight, mom. Take…I want you to take this kiss with you and know that no matter how far apart we are"—he paused, his voice cracking—"I'll always love you."

_And I'll always love you, my precious…little…._

**XXX**

**The End.**

**Gonna go lie down now.**

**My beta reader hates this story now; she can't stand dark angst and said this made her cry. Honestly, I can understand why and after evoking such a feeling within her...well...I think I've done my job as a writer. Anyway...there's an Epilogue coming. Look out for it.**


	10. Epilogue

A/N: Thanks for all the love, hate, and reviews. Last fun fact: this fic was originally supposed to be a little one-shot. I honestly had no clue where it was going, I just knew it had to be gory as all hell. Dark, gory stories is what I do best and for the longest time I'd forgotten that. It took the awesomeness of a fic called _Cheerilee's Garden_ to reignite my passion. That fic is without a doubt one of the most disturbingly horrific pieces of literature I've ever read. If you think _A Mother's Sword_ is grisly and fucked up then wow, just…wow.

With the next continuation of this story, I'm bringing everything the first lacked, including pairings. And, oh yes, plentiful gore. Fair warning.

Now, for the last piece of A Mother's Sword: Devil's Analogy. Enjoy.

Epilogue: She's D.E.A.D (Determined Even After Death)

**XXX**

Minato had been walking, walking for what seemed like hours upon a narrow stretch of white road. It only went one way and from what he could gather there was no end in sight. The surrounding area was pure darkness, one that quite honestly scared the shit out of him but he learned that if you didn't put a foot over the white road then nothing happened.

Yeah...nothing happened.

Every so often, Minato came across another figure walking either in front or behind him. No words were ever exchanged and perhaps that was a good thing because newcomers were always grayed out, their features blurred beyond distinction. He had to wonder what he looked like to them. Did he resemble a young man with flyaway blonde hair and bright blue eyes, or did they see him as he saw them?

The newcomers never lasted long, which was both a good and bad thing. It was good because their ghoulish features set him edge; and it was bad because when they left his only company became the piercing loneliness and cold silence once more.

In the back of his mind he knew he was dead. He vividly, painfully remembered binding the Nine-Tailed Fox to his only child through means that cost him his very soul. It was a last ditch effort and now, as he sauntered along aimlessly, he wondered how everything had turned out? Where was his wife? She had died too, right? So why was he walking this road by himself? Or maybe she'd been one of those spectral shadows that already came and went?

No...that didn't make sense. He'd be able to _feel_ her—he always did, no matter where she was or what she was doing. If she felt even the slightest twinge of pain he was right there, putting his Hirashin jutsu to more use than it had ever seen in battle. He nodded with brief hope, the movement foreign as some of his body refused to follow the most simplest commands. That was fine. All he needed was his legs anyway; he had to keep walking. Where? He didn't know. For how long? He didn't want to ponder.

"Now that I think about it...it's not that I have to walk," Minato noticed idly, staring down at his legs, "it's that I _can't_ help but walk." He laughed, it was a short, dry sound. "I haven't been in control of my legs since I found myself on this bridge."

He suddenly looked up when another person appeared out of thin air before him. They were hunched over and shrouded in shadows just like the others; their walk looked disturbingly painful, like every jerking step struck them with a blistering agony that Minato felt sure would have them screaming if they could make noise. No, this pitiful monstrosity marched onward, determined to get to wherever the hell it was headed to.

Maybe that's where it was headed, Minato figured, poking out his bottom lip in thought. Something that terrible looking had to be going to hell. Well...he'd know it's destination in a second.

He began counting in his head, down from ten.

_Four…._

_Three…._

_Two…._

An enormous hand made of roaring black fire suddenly lurched up out of the darkness, one with triple-jointed fingers that ended with sparkling talons that dripped blood onto the light road. Inhaling, as if that somehow made him invisible, Minato watched as the creature before him was gripped, _tightly_, so tightly that a brown sort of gunk began to squeeze through the enormous fingers—

He felt as if the breath had been stolen from him as he usually did when the creature was snatched off the path, leaving no evidence of its existence other than a few piles of rotted flesh that burned away into a black mist on this wonderful bridge of light.

"Yup...hell." Knowing the creature's destination did nothing to help him but he took comfort in knowing that he himself had not been grabbed so...so what? Maybe he wouldn't be going there? Was that what he hoped? It only seemed fair, after all, given how he'd died….

But then...had _that_ been fair? He'd only been a father for less than four hours before that traitorous bastard came and tore a path of blood through everything he held dear. He automatically knew Hiruzen would pick up the Hokage's mantle again and felt bad for forcing the old man back into such a taxing position.

He sighed, continuing his forced march, wondering just how long he'd have to—

A sudden _thud_ from up ahead caused Minato to look up, his eyes displaying boredom at first before slowly widening with surprise. Another shadowy body had appeared except...this one was on its side, curled up even.

Not that he had much choice in the matter, Minato approached, noticing that with each step he took the tufts of darkness hissed away from the newcomer until he could make out their crimson hair—

His breath caught.

"KUSHINA!"

His sudden yell must have broken some sort of binding he couldn't have known existed because feeling returned to his legs; he instantly crashed to his knees, not expecting the change, but was up in a flash and next to his wife in another. Gingerly, he cradled her, smiling out of fear and happiness at what he'd found as he moved strands of hair from her porcelain face. She was still so...so….

Tears had formed in his eyes yet he refused to let them free. Now wasn't the time to break down. He was dead, on a bridge of light surrounded by darkness, and his wife looked as though she'd been knocked comatose. He felt a cold moisture somewhere around her midsection and glanced at his hand.

Blood. Deep red and sticky, it dripped down his wrist and for a moment he could only stare, his highly trained mind running through a list of scenarios for why this might be. Was it because of the nine-tails wound when they were both impaled? No...that couldn't be as he himself was fine, not a scratch on him; even his white Hokage's cloak bore no remnant of the attack.

Not able to tell by just looking, he put a finger under her nose, exhaling with relief when he felt those slight puffs of air. The wound looked fatal yet...she breathed. But wait, so did he.

He gnashed his teeth in the eerie silence. Giving himself a migraine over facts that mattered so little would do nothing: all that mattered was that she was alive—dead?—and with him.

"Honey?" he called gingerly, tracing her cheek with a delicate touch as though she were a fragile flower even though he knew she was anything but. He figured he was extremely lucky to have found such a strong woman—and unnervingly talented as before he'd died she'd taken to seeking out advice on how to perform his Hiraishin. It was laughable to think she would be able to actually execute it properly but she seemed adamant. And adamant was sexy where she as concerned. "Honey, I know you're there….Come on, open your eyes for me. _Please_," he whispered.

And she did. Much like a butterfly spreading its wings for the first time, Kushina's eyes fluttered open with grace unforeseen. For a moment, she merely stared up at the man holding her, noting his flyaway blonde hair, his tender blue eyes filling up with tears, his quivering smile—

"Minato?" The word sounded foreign on her tongue, a name she hadn't spoke for more than a decade. The moment this wonderful man nodded, she moved instinctually, wrapping her arms around his neck before pressing her lips to his.

It wasn't exactly the most romantic kiss, Minato figured, as her lips were more coarse than he remembered but he eagerly accepted them, loving everything about this woman all over again, starting with how she tasted.

The embrace ended rather unexpectedly when Kushina gasped with pain, slapping a hand to the wound on her side. Minato's eyes flashed to it, wondering why in the hell she had sustained injury if they were both…?

His train of thought was derailed when Kushina offered up a tired little laugh, one that was miles away from the adorable giggle she used to give. This, like her kiss, had changed to the point of being neigh unrecognizable. Just as he did, she lifted a bloody hand up, examining it for only a second before bending over and tearing off a long strip of her pants leg. Minato watched, astounded by her readiness as she tied it around her waist, her face betraying not a single ounce of pain when she tied the knot.

Something had changed about his lover. Something drastic.

"Kushina—" he began, uncertain of how to start.

"So, this is death," his wife said with an analyzing look around the darkness. She stared down at the bridge of light sustaining them and felt it experimentally. "Strange. I don't seem to have my katana—"

_Katana? Since when did she—?_

"—and I thought Sakumo would be here waiting for me, as would the third Hokage."

_What?_

Minato's eyes bugged, his heartbeat stuttering. What did she mean by—? It took him a second to realize that Kushina was on her feet, wound be damned, and had grabbed him by the wrist. Her grip was...for lack of a better word, _tight_, demanding. He felt that if he didn't rise when she tugged she would have easily taken his arm.

"What's happened?" he asked, taking his wife by the chin and turning her so he could stare deep into those enticing blue opals he loved so much. The spark of love she had for him was still there—and for that he mentally exhaled, relief flooding his body—but everything else...it was gone. Or rather dimmed to the point of being superfluous. Minato had always been of an insightful nature, able to pick up subtle hints and changes that others missed, and now that the subject concerned his wife he was grasping more than ever.

Without knowing _how_ he knew he got the feeling that a great deal of time had passed between himself arriving on this bridge and Kushina. Or, perhaps more on the mark, this place existed on a time plane drastically different from the world he had left.

He jerked when she put a hand to his cheek, expecting it to feel something akin to a man's touch, but was taken aback by all the emotion that came with her soothing caress. Once again, without knowing where this damnable knowledge came from, he knew that this tiny stroke of her hand spoke of the feelings she had for him but could not say for one reason or another.

"Tell me," he pushed, tapping her once on the bottom lip like he used to whenever she fancied keeping secrets from him.

He was overjoyed to see it had the same effect now as it did then for Kushina's brow crinkled with reluctance. Paying no mind to her wound, she lovingly took Minato's arm in hers and the two began walking down the bridge of light together.

She peeked up at him through her scarlet bangs, catching him in the act of surveying her with a cocked eyebrow before hastily turning his sight elsewhere. His childish actions coerced a little smile out of her. "I've not completely forgotten how to be a woman, love," she informed him with a fake haughty sniff.

He smirked. "Never crossed my mind. Now, what's happened? And don't lie," he added with a scolding wag of his finger. "I want to know what's happened since I've been…." For some reason, he just couldn't find the courage to vocally proclaim himself as 'dead', fearing that the moment he did something terrible would happen; like it would be the triggering acceptance to summon that hellish hand from before. "Since I've been gone."

Kushina met his eyes and he cursed himself mentally when he saw that she understood his trepidation yet respectfully refrained from pressing it. Had it been that obvious?

"I died," she began unabashedly, bluntly, and Minato stumbled in his footing but the hold she had over his arm steadied him.

"Y-you _what_?" he exclaimed, his voice echoing in the surrounding gloom. It was only when he tried to stop walking that he found his legs had been taken over by fate once more, moving along of their own accord. He could tell by the way that Kushina observed her own feet that she was experiencing the same thing—but none of that mattered. "You died? I—I don't understand, if you died by the nine-tails like me then why weren't you—?"

Kushina cut him off without trying. The sudden shadows that played over her face were deep and sinister causing her to look less like the woman he'd married and more like the one she'd been molded into now. "Due to negligence on my part, Ibiki managed to deal me a fatal wound." She stared down at the makeshift wrap around her waist. "That one to be precise…."

Now Minato was utterly confused, baffled so much that he found anger coming quickly. It boiled hot in his veins and he had to bite his tongue to a bleeding point to keep calm.

"Why would Ibiki do—?"

"Probably because of the eighty or so ninja I murdered," she replied as though knowing his question beforehand. "Sakumo and Orochimaru had killed the Hokage so that couldn't be why he felt the need to impale me like he did. Perhaps I'd killed one of his best friends, or a possible lover of his."

While Kushina looked sincerely contemplative, Minato had fallen from the conversation at the mention of Sakumo and came back only to be kicked off again by the mention of Orochimaru. Just what in the hell…?

"Kushina," he began slowly and when she looked up at him, her face so angled and beatifically elegant, he almost lost his words. It felt like he'd only just died not more than a couple hours ago, yet staring at the woman at his side he now knew he had missed a great deal. "How long have I been gone? The only thing I remember is protecting Naruto then performing the sealing jutsu for the fox and then...I'm here, in this endless void. Hours later _you_ show up but I can tell you're not the same as when I left. _Just what have I missed?_" he asked almost pleadingly, wanting to understand.

It was clear that this new Kushina was not one for mincing words, or putting things delicately, so it came as a physically painful shock for Minato when she said, "Love, you've been amongst the dead for the past thirteen years."

Being deceased meant nothing to Minato's heart and he cringed in pain as his chest seized. He went through the agonizing motions of suffering a heart-attack without actually experiencing one. He was breathless, spent from just one sentence, and wanted very much to sit down but curse his legs, they kept him firmly walking.

Oblivious to his reaction, or, more likely, evaluating it as contained, Kushina stared down at her feet again. "I can't seem to control where I'm walking."

"Join the club," he grunted, accepting that his fears had been confirmed. Time flowed at a different velocity here. That...answered just about as many questions as it arose. "What have I missed? I thought Sakumo was dead—I thought Orochimaru had gone rogue and—no, never mind, that's not important. I don't even want to know how you managed to live. I'm damn happy but that can wait."

Without any thought, he planted a quick kiss over Kushina's cheek—her skin was so soft—and said, "I want to know about our son. Tell me about Naruto."

And so Kushina told him. Leaving out how she came to breathe again as he'd requested, Kushina regaled him with tales of their child from beginning to the end, recounting both the happy and heart-rending with such poise that Minato kept flip-flopping between smiling and frowning.

When she was through with Naruto's portion, Kushina explained how she had been brought back to life through a combination of the Hokage's secrecy and Orochimaru's sadistic science. She told him of their false alliance, of Sakumo's rebirthing and Itachi's staged departure from the village; she spared no hatred when mentioning how the Hokage died. She hadn't been there to witness Hiruzen's glorious death but Sakumo had already told her what method he'd use to extinguish the old flame. She explained the hidden intricacies of the Zero Ninja and of their leaders betrayal. Emotionlessly, she revealed her plans to destroy Konoha, the very village Minato had sworn to protect, and even told how Naruto had come to the same conclusion and that they had worked together in harmony as they took life after life. Her voice grew suddenly hoarse when the story ended with a mission failure and her death, unable to even see her child in those last few moments before she passed….

Minato listened to all of this without interrupting once. When his wife fell silent, the only noise came from the rumbling void.

They continued walking.

Kushina looked over, trying to gauge her husbands reaction but saw that he was staring straight ahead, his face as emotionless as hers was on a daily basis. There was no bafflement, no anger, no signs of struggling to comprehend why she had done those demonic acts or why she had felt the need to enlist the help of Orochimaru, Itachi, Sakumo—it slightly annoyed her because she was usually really good at deciphering even the most stoic expressions. But her husband, he had her stumped completely, like trying to read a rock.

"Love?" she called softly, beginning to feel surprisingly uncomfortable. "Did...I'm finished talking now. Did you hear me?"

"Caught every word. Halfway into your story I was contemplating some very _drastic_ options. At first, I played with the notion of killing you." Kushina's eyes widened yet Minato continued without noticing, his tone lackadaisical. "I dismissed that idea when I realized that we're both already dead so that wouldn't carry any consequence. After skipping over dozens of other scenarios in which I would be left wifeless, I came to the conclusion that I was being rather hypocritical."

He sighed, staring up as though expecting see a bright, cerulean sky. Only a chilling canvas of shadow met his hardened gaze and he accepted it. "Had I been in your position, I doubt things would have ended in a mission failure. In fact, I probably would have made a clone for every single resident of Konoha and sent them on their way with only a kunai and a single order: _kill everyone_. Had you thought of that, love?"

And his smile returned. He turned it to Kushina who was taken aback, her mouth hanging open in a cute little 'o' before she too smiled. She lovingly nuzzled her head against his shoulder before answering with, "It had crossed my mind at one point but I figured the deviated chakra would leave me too drained to protect myself from the more elite shinobi." In the back of her mind, Kushina wondered if after thirteen years of training until she vomited blood whether she'd be able to take her husband in a serious fight. Before his death there was no doubt he had her in every possible aspect, but now the thought of clashing kunai with him for blood enticed her in an almost sensual way. "I didn't want to chance it."

"And thus a mission failure. Victory cannot come without risks," Minato concluded playfully, ignoring the horrendous details that came with said failure, choosing instead to focus on his wife's childish pout. "You said Naruto was fine before you died?"

"His heartbeat sounded regular, if somewhat sporadic with stress over the fact that I was leaving him, and when he took hold of my hand…he felt so warm, so full of life. His voice was strong, heartbroken but determined to live—"

"And that brings me to my next question," cut in Minato, his voice shades lighter. "What was your plan once Konoha had been leveled? Realistically speaking, it's highly improbably that you would have been able to do away with every soul within her walls. Some people would've gotten away, told other villages and countries—your faces would be everywhere, tagged with a very large bounty. What kind of life could you, the Z.N.O, and Naruto have lived were your plan a success?"

This was not a question Minato posed to make his wife feel utterly daft. He honestly wanted to know what came after such a seismic change in the shinobi world. One of it's greatest villages falls with its leader—if that weren't enough to have every top ninja from the other countries on their trails then nothing was.

As he knew she would, Kushina didn't answer right away. Their walk continued in thoughtful silence, during which Minato wondered why no other 'creatures' from before had appeared on the bridge. Did it have something to do with his wife's appearance?

"I guess I never really put much stock into an after-plan," she admitted in whispers and Minato wanted to laugh at the blush in her cheeks. It brought back fond memories of the old Kushina. "As long as I had Naruto by my side then I honestly didn't care what happened next. I knew we would be hunted. I knew normal society would never accept us into its arms again. I knew I was condemning our son to a life of running and hiding...but then a small piece of my mind conceded to the fact that it would be no different a world than what Naruto had experienced since birth. When I looked at it that way the choice was simple, I could breathe easier because I'd be there to protect him."

"And look where you are now," said Minato.

Even though his voice was light, Kushina felt as though he had just screamed at her and visibly flinched, a burning sensation in her eyes.

"Don't cry," Minato said gently, his jaw firming. "If you did, I think I might join you and I've been trying really hard to keep a straight face," he added with a choked laugh. "The most important thing is that Naruto is still alive. If you and the other members of Z.N.O were really as close as you said then I'm sure they'll take good care of him wherever they end up."

Kushina opened her mouth to tell Minato just how much those words comforted her troubled soul when another voice preceded her:

_**It seems as though light and dark can indeed comingle**_**.**

All at once, feeling returned to Minato's legs and he nearly fell; he felt something within his head _snap_ and blood began to slid from his nostrils, a slow stream that he touched a finger to, confused beyond reason. He turned to Kushina, gasping when he saw that she was gripping her forehead, grunting as tears of blood escaped her eyes, which were squeezed tight in obvious agony.

"Ku—" he started breathlessly but the voice echoed again, seemingly from everywhere.

_**I grow tired of waiting and my patience is very thin. Look up**_.

Minato had never in all of his years cognizant heard something so evil that it caused him to shiver. He was scared, scared to the point of hyperventilating and he gripped at his chest, struggling to lift his head as commanded. He hadn't wanted to; it was more like an invisible pull on his chin forcing him. What he saw caused his eyes to widen in horror, his jaw to drop.

Out of the darkness sparked a fire, a crimson flame that thrashed above their heads with the sound of booming thunder; it created a fierce wind that caused both ninja to apply chakra to their feet or risk being blown off the bridge. Struck still as freshly carved statues, they watched as the flames contorted and twisted to form a sinister looking face as vast as the darkness; it stretched in all directions completely destroying Minato's sense of scale. Out of the forehead protruded two long, glistening black horns; the black sockets understood to be eyes were each filled with a bright red star.

There was no mouth, no ears, no nose—just looking at it caused Minato's stomach to churn nauseatingly and that alone filled him with rage. Why, as a soul, could he feel nausea? Feel this curdling fear that made him want to sink to his knees and scream? He only remained on his feet because his wife did despite the trails of blood curving her cheeks.

_**Release the man you hold, Kushina Uzumaki**_, the voice commanded and Minato's head throbbed with an unearthly pain.

Baring her teeth protectively, Kushina ignored her pain and fear and took Minato's arm in a tighter hold. "I will not."

_**You are delaying his ascension**_.

Holding back tears of agony, Minato struggled with his mouth. "A...ascension…? T-to what?" he ground out, chest heaving.

The face above them shifted ever so slightly when the eyes narrowed, the action so powerful that another wind picked up; Minato didn't have time to apply chakra and thus felt his feet leave the ground. Luckily, Kushina's strength had obviously increased since his death so he didn't go far before thudding down to the bridge again.

_**You, Minato Uzumaki...you performed the self-sacrificing jutsu in order to save your village. It's an act that I find absolutely sickening. However...there are others who feel that those who die in such a way deserve a small amount of...closure. What you wanted most in your heart was to see your wife again so you were made to walk this bridge of purgatory until her death. Now you have seen this woman and talked to her—your soul is free. You can move on**_. _**Your admittance into the kingdom of light has now been granted**_.

Those words shook Minato to his core. For a moment, he forgot how to breathe and was left to gape up at the gigantic enflamed face. He...he was going to heaven? He had made it? And this bridge was purgatory…?

Before he could even begin to feel happiness, a part of Minato's brain clicked with knowledge and he suddenly yelled, "What about my wife?"

_**Your souls blare with two opposite forces. Yours, Minato Uzumaki, is white as snow. Hers, however, is blacker than the darkness that surrounds you. You will ascend into the kingdom of light and she will descend into the palace of fire. So it has been written and so shall it be.**_

"Wh-what?" Minato stuttered, his ears ringing painfully. He turned to his wife with hopeless sorrow, not sure of what he could do or say.

But he didn't need to say anything. Without warning, Kushina lifted a hand, sucked in her bottom lip, and plunged it deep into her wound. A scream of agony was lost somewhere in her throat as she fished around, her fingers flailing past copious amounts of spilling blood until they brushed what she sought—

"KUSHINA!" Minato cried but with an uncontainable yelp of pain she suddenly pulled forth a blood-drenched handle, which was connected to a sterling silver blade. "What...what the—?"

She stepped in front of her husband, extending her weapon towards the face with one hand while the other took a tight hold of Minato's Hokage cloak.

"I...understand y-your words," she spoke, her breathing labored with pain, one eye closed as sweat trickled down her forehead. "I knew of...of my f-fate a long time ago….I—I lost my child. A-all I want is a f-few more hours with m-my husband...then I'll go wherever and s-suffer my punishment…."

_**Denied**_, the voice rumbled forth and Kushina balked slightly, her weapon arm strengthening. _**Damned souls do not have a voice. The other powers were gracious enough to allow him to see you one last time. You dare spit in the face of such generosity? **_Though it's tone didn't raise, Minato felt as though gravity had increased tenfold. _**Your darkness is keeping his soul grounded with you. He has earned everlasting peace. Release him so that he may move on**_._** Who are you to keep him away from what he has earned? Know your place, damned soul**_.

Those words crushed Kushina's resolve both mentally and physically, and her sword arm lowered slowly until it fell away. Looking defeated in every since of the word, crystal clear water began to escape her eyes…and she released her husband—

"Sorry, but...that's not happening." Arms found their way around Kushina from the back, holding onto her shivering form protectively, lovingly. He put his lips near her ear, forcing his throbbing heart from his throat so he could speak. "Love...I'd gladly give you _all_ of my time. We made a promise on the day we wed: _till death do us part_. Remember? We may be technically dead but...my heart still beats. If it beats then I'm alive, and as long as I'm alive"—he pressed his cheek to hers—"I refuse to let you go."

It was then Kushina realized that although she may have been damned to spend eternity in hell that she had indeed been blessed. Blessed with a child brighter than the sun and a husband whose faithfulness could fill the galaxy. She could feel his warmth, the sincerity of his words—he meant it with every fiber of his being...and that only brought forth more tears.

She couldn't speak.

The voice blared out around them, _**So ends the non-confrontational method.**_

And from out of the darkness burst tentacles of black fire; they slithered and zoomed like lightning towards the embracing couple—

Minato dug a hand in his pocket—

Kushina lifted her weapon—

Dropping to one knee, Minato wielded a three-pronged kunai engraved with special markings; he spun in a blinding flash of yellow, severing a multitude of black tentacles that tried to ensnare their legs—without needing to be told, Kushina had leapt, biting her tongue to the pain in her side, and made slashes with her katana, expertly reducing the tendrils trying to strangle them to black ash.

When she landed, she pressed her back to Minato's, smiling internally. They were fighting side by side—wife and husband—as one.

"M-Minato," she gasped, an arm wrapped around her waist; it was saturated with blood.

He shook his head. "Don't say it." He lifted his weapon, ready for another onslaught. "We won't survive this. I know that, but if we both get sent to hell...as long as I'm with you…."

A droplet of blood fell from under Minato's robes. An instant later, he fell to his knees sending up sparks of light from the bridge, wavered slightly, then thudded over.

Kushina looked down at him, her lips quivering, tears free flowing and sniffing up phlegm. "I'm sorry, my love," she whispered tragically, "but I can't let you sacrifice eternal happiness just...just for me…."

"NO!" roared Minato as she stepped over him but he couldn't feel his legs. She'd struck him in the spine with her blade. The pain was slight, barely noticeable, a tribute to her incredible craft yet that didn't stop him from reaching out for her, his fingers just barely grasping the back of her bare calf before she was out of reach. "KUSHINA! NO—damn it, no! We promised!"

She kept walking, one arm still slung around her waist while the other let her sword trail limply, the blade scoring the light-bridge.

She inhaled, summoning all of her courage, and looked up into the flaming maw of fate that loomed overhead. "Take me."

Minato swore so loudly that his throat blistered. "AAAAAAAH—NOOO!"

It was then a line of darkness spread throughout the ancient face forming a lopsided mouth; from it extended two bright red serpents that stretched down to Kushina. She looked left to right and remained still even after they dislocated their jaws. What were they going to—?

Her eyes crossed when she felt fangs penetrate her throat on either side; the pain nearly caused her brain to explode.

"No—_leave her alone_!" Minato bellowed, struggling to pull himself forward by his arms.

Kushina could feel blood welling up in her throat, escaping through the punctures in her skin—she choked, retreating deep into the recesses of her mind where only Naruto's smile prevailed. He was laughing as he proudly waved those tongues for her to see….

_Oh...Naruto…._

She gasped when the pressure on her neck suddenly increased to vomit-worthy levels, and then she was being lifted, hoisted into the air like a hooked trout. Down below, she could hear Minato screaming out for this creature to release her.

_In my new life, I had Naruto...and now, in death I have Minato_.

The snakes dug in deeper and she found herself less than a few away from the demonic face bearing down her with eyes blaring hotter than the sun. Her skin began to roast, turning a scalding red—

_**Do you know who I am?**_ the voice questioned; the vibrations entered Kushina's head, bouncing around painfully.

She coughed her throat clear, ignoring the scarlet fluids flowing down her neck, and uttered, "Y-yes."

_**Who am I?**_

"The g-god of death…."

_**The god of death is my second-in-charge**_, the voice corrected, and it chastised Kushina by having the snakes clutch tighter causing her eyes to roll up. _**No...I am far greater than that. You should feel honored, little damned soul. This is only the second time I have come up to personally claim one of you humans. I have been watching you, enjoying your admittedly short show as you cut a wave of blood through the streets of your home. You've fed me many a soul and for that...maybe there is further use for you.**_"

It was getting progressively harder to talk, becoming a painful chore that caused her vision to sparkle, but Kushina heard just fine and growled out, "_Never_."

_**You stayed yourself from seeing your child for over a decade. You were willing to rend several hundred souls from their bodies. You severed the spine of your lover so as to keep him from falling into the same darkness as you.**_ The fangs in Kushina's throat loosened ever so slightly. _**I have dominion over your world. I have the power to send you back.**_

"There's n-nothing for me there…mission...failure…."

The snakes dug in deeper and Kushina gasped. _**Do not belittle my power, damned soul. Sending you to a point in time before your folly is worth no more effort than speaking.**_

When Kushina spoke, her voice was strong. "I said I refuse."

_**Do you not wish to see your child again? Save him from the unbearable sadness he feels now at the loss of his mother? He holds within him one of my more deadly creations...and it will use his loss and sorrow to widen the gap between them. Naruto will not take your death easy. He will rise to power in eight years and lead an armada of no more than fifty of the most well trained ninja against Konoha. The war will be long and bloody, more souls than I have ever seen in one time, but your son will fall in battle and his corpse will be paraded through what little is left of the village hidden in fire. Do you want this?**_

"Don't listen to it! Kushina!" yelled Minato, pounding the bridge with his fists. "It's lying! There's no way Naruto would do something like that!"

But maybe that wasn't so far from the truth. Before being brought back as a Z.N.O member, Kushina could never have seen herself attempting to wipe out all of Konoha's populous, yet _she_ had tried. And the meeting with Naruto had proved his mental instability. Have a child of that caliber watch his mother die before his eyes then mix it with years of abuse and hatred and the idea of Naruto seeking revenge was more plausible than Sasuke Uchiha's reasoning.

Minato didn't understand...he couldn't, he hadn't seen the wicked glow that resonated within Naruto's cerulean eyes, the cruel joy that sank into his face as he fought alongside his equally volatile mother.

"What...would you have me do?" she questioned throatily.

_**The grip you have over your weapon is strong despite your condition. Had you done things differently, your coup would have been successful. I will send you back one day before that fateful night. You know where you went wrong. Should you manage to change that then you save yourself and your child. But you will work for me.**_

"Doing what?"

"Kushina! Listen to me for once! _Don't do it!"_

_**You will provide me with fresh souls every day.**_

"And if I d-don't?"

_**You die instantly. You and your child. If you choose not to adhere to this second chance then when your child eventually falls his soul will join yours in eternal hellfire. By going back, you have not only a chance to live again but to save his soul as well**_.

"W-why are you…trying to—?"

_**Help? I do not help. You brought forth a surge of souls not seen since the last ninja war. You can do me a greater service alive rather than having the flesh peeled from your bones day after day for all eternity. Your screams are very much like elegant works of poetry but this is not your end. Not yet. Will you go and save your child?**_

Her mind was made up before the voice even finished talking and she worked her gashed neck as far as the pain allowed, barely able to catch Minato still struggling out of her peripheral vision. "And h-he'll go on?"

_**Yes**_**.**

"I'll do it," and no sooner had the words left her lips, Minato yelled in fury, the tone of his voice sending shivers of fear down Kushina's spine; she'd never heard anything so terrible, not even the sound of this creature holding her.

_**Then so shall it be. Remember...I will be always be watching you.**_

And just like that she felt the fangs in her neck retract and she began to fall like a rock. She expected a collision with the light bridge but gasped with pain when she merely fell through, shattering a huge section into glasslike shards. As she plummeted into the darkness, her last vision was of Minato nearly flinging himself over the edge, tears dripping from his eyes—

"KUSHINAAAA!"

She smiled. "A father's work from sun to sun...a m-mothers work is never done…r-rest now, my love….I'll handle everything…."

**XXX**

**Now Kushina is D.E.A.D (Determined Even After Defeat)**

**Coming soon: A Mother's Sword: Devil's Disciple.**

Hope you enjoyed the ride.


End file.
